Equities rallied across the board as the NASDAQ led the way with a 6.2% gain. Both the Russell 2000 and Russell 1000 posted gains of around 5.5%, and the S&P 500 advanced 5.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the relative laggard but still rose 2.5%.

All eleven sectors advanced higher in February. Consumer Discretionary led the way with a 7.9% gain, followed by Industrials at 7.2% and Materials which charged 6.5% higher.

Core inflation has gradually decelerated over the last 10 months, down to 3.86% in January. Crude oil rose in February, causing the average price of gas to increase 13 cents to $3.37/g. After a flat January, Bitcoin and Ethereum logged respective gains of 45.9% and 44.2% in February, spurred by ETF inflows and ahead of March’s Bitcoin halving event.

Treasury yields rose across the board even as equities rallied. Intermediate duration instruments posted the largest increases; the 2-year, 3-year, and 5-year all increased by 35 bps or more.

Bond ETFs largely mimicked their January performances in February. The short-term SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) and iShares Boxx High Yield Corporate Bond (HYG) both inched higher. In long-term bonds, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) fell 2.3% for the second straight month. 

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