US equity markets staged a broad-based rally on Friday (31 March) to close out a volatile March with monthly and quarterly gains - Dow gained +415-points or +1.26%. McDonald’s Corp (+up 0.66%) is temporarily closing its U.S. offices this week as it prepares to inform corporate employees about its layoffs as part of a broader company restructuring, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday (2 April).The broader S&P500 rose +1.44%, with Consumer Discretionary (up +2.62%), Real Estate (+2.18%) and Communications Services (+2.08%) all gaining over >2% to lead all eleven primary sectors higher. Tesla Inc (up +6.24%) reported on Sunday (2 April) that it delivered 422,875 vehicles in the first quarter, just shy of the 432K units projected by economists. The electric vehicle manufacturer also reported production of 440,808 units for the quarter. Tesla is due to report first-quarter earnings after the close of trading on 19 April. The technology-centric Nasdaq rallied +1.74%. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 climbed +1.93%. US equity and bond markets are CLOSED on Friday night AEST (7 April) for Good Friday.
