U.S. equities broadly pushed to new highs last week and closed out October with strong gains as third quarter corporate earnings continued to highlight a robust demand environment despite numerous supply constraints. For the week, the S&P 500 added 1.4%, bringing its October gains to 7.0%, which more than made up the ground ceded in September’s volatility.

Strong earnings have fueled rises in the major indices with the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all closing last week up over one percent. With 23% of Q3 earnings reports released from S&P 500 index members, 84% have reported a positive EPS surprise and 75% reported a positive revenue surprise according to FactSet.

U.S. equities broadly managed to post their best weekly gains since July last week as a strong start to third quarter corporate earnings season helped lift stocks after dipping earlier in the week on concerns of mounting inflation pressures.

Higher inflation continues to be in the news, with the surge in energy prices fueling some stock volatility and a debate on whether inflation pressures will be transitory and their effect on the economic recovery.

Stock market turbulence continued last week with U.S. equities sliding lower as a back-up in long-term interest rates hit high growth technology stocks and investors continued to assess new developments on financial stress in China as well as the gridlock in Congress.