US Markets Update – 24’Rally taking pause for big leap?

US Markets Update – 2024 Week10 Update/Recap

US Markets Update – During the 10th week of 2024, major indices paused the rally while we see some recovery in 10-year Treasury Yield Rates after Powell’s testimony last week. Nasdaq Composite and DJIA both the indices came back from recent life time high. Market took strong note from the testimony of Fed Chair Jerome Powell who reinforces position that the Fed is not ready to start cutting interest rates.

NVIDIA remained the top star again this week as optimism with AI Chip-maker NVIDIA continues. NVIDIA shares are trading near all time high after rising by 6.38% this week. However, largely tech stocks remained under pressure this week as traders digested the commentary from Powell to firm-up their hope on next rate cut event as early as possible. Investors interest was seen in small cap stocks this week when large cap stocks were under pressure, Russell Index for small-cap i.e. RUT (Russell 2000) closed 0.304% higher on weekly basis, while on yearly basis, the index is trading 55 points higher (2082.71 points) from the 2023 closing levels (i.e. 2027 Points).

Other important Russell Indices such as RUA (Russell 3000) Global index and RUI (Russell 1000) for large-cap declined by 0.212% and 0.239% on weekly basis.

US Markets Update – Summary of the 2024 Week 10:

US Markets Update – Among Global indexes, at broader level all the indices showed profit-taking and came back a little from lifetime high levels.

NASDAQ Composite Index declined by 1.166% i.e. (190 points) for this week.

S&P 500 declined by 0.261% (13.4 Points) and made another life time high record closing this week of 5157.36 points during Thursday trading. DJIA (US30) lost 0.932% i.e. 364 points to close at 38723.15 level.

RUSSELL3000 (RUA) Global index declined by 0.212% (6 Points) ,

RUSSELL1000 (RUI) Large Cap index declined by 0.239% (6.74 Points) and

RUSSELL2000 (RUT) Small Cap index rose by 0.304% (6.32 Points) during the past week.

US Markets Update – Key heavy-weight stocks that ROSE on weekly basis:

• NVDA (NVIDIA CORP) rose by 52.49 USD (6.38%) to close at 875.28 $ per share
• META (META PLATFORMS) rose by 3.65 USD (0.727%) to close at 505.95 $ per share
• AXP (AMEX) rose by 3.71 USD (1.689%) to close at 223.37 $ per share

US Markets Update : Among the key heavy-weight stocks that FALL on weekly basis are:

• TESL (TESLA INC.) declined by 27.3 USD (13.472%) to close at 175.34 $ per share
• MSFT (MICROSOFT CORP.) declined by 9.28 USD (2.233%) to close at 415.5 $ per share
• GOOGL (Google) lost 2.67 USD (1.934%) to close at 135.41 $ per share
• MRK (MERCK&CO) lost 3.46 USD (2.725%) to close at 123.5 $ per share
• AAPL (Apple Inc.) lost 8.93 USD (4.97%) to close at 170.73 $ per share

US Markets Update : Among the small-cap stocks that remained active on weekly basis are:

Small Cap stocks gained past week:

• AISP (AIRSHIP SI HOLDINGS INC.) gained 312% to close at 6.8$ per share
• COCH (ENVOY MEDICAL INC.) gained 44% to close at 9$ per share
• SWBI (SMITH & WESSON BRANDS INC.) gained 28.245% to close at 17.39$ per share
• ROOT (ROOT INC.) gained 17.03% to close at 45.77$ per share
• SG (SWEETGREEN INC.) gained 14.67% to close at 18.76$ per share
• TRUP(TRUPANION) gained 8.321% to close at 29.55$ per share
• JMIA (JUMIA TECH AG) gained 2.46% to close at 7.08$ per share
• TDS(TELEPHONE AND DATA SYSTEMS) gained 3.374% to close at 15.93$ per share
• AVNW (AVIAT NETWORK) gained 1.949% to close at 35.57 $ per share
• COHR (COHERENT) gained 0.614% to close at 63.86 $ per share

Small Cap stocks declined past week:

• HOLO(MICROCLOUD Hologram) declined by 39.9% to close at 5.42$ per share
• PACB(PACIFIC Biosciences of California, Inc.) declined by 14.64% to close at 4.43$ per share
• MINM (MINIM INC.) declined by 9.294% to close at 5.27$ per share
• LUNR (INTUITIVE MACHINES INC.) declined by 6.5% to close at 5.47$ per share
• COGT (COGENT BIO, Inc.) declined by 8.85% to close at 6.59$ per share
• NNOX(NANOXIMAGING) lost 8.183% to close at 10.21$ per share
• HEAR(TURTLE BEACH CORP) lost 4.08% to close at 10.58$ per share
• XPOF (XPONENTIAL FITNESS INC.) lost 1.99% to close at 13.77$ per share
• TTMI (TTM TECHNOLOGIES) declined by 0.398% to close at 15.02$ per share

AISP (AIRSHIP HOLDINGS) shares jumped by 312% to close at 6.8$ per share. Airship AI Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AISP) , a leader in AI-driven video, sensor, and data management surveillance solutions, was awarded last week a large contract to an agency within the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the Company’s Acropolis Enterprise Sensor Management video and data management platform supporting emerging public safety and investigative requirements.

COCH (Envoy Medical Inc.) shares gained 44% to close at 9$ per share. Envoy Medical, Inc., a hearing health company, provides medical technologies for the hearing loss spectrum. Shares jumped with the news about $10 Million Term Debt Financing from existing investor and billionaire entrepreneur Glen Taylor for the launch of upcoming US-based pivotal clinical trial for our innovative investigational fully implanted Acclaim® cochlear implant.

US Markets – 2024 YTD change on the key Indices

On YTD basis, NASDAQ Composite, DJIA and S&P 500 index came back from life time highs but their gains since 2023 closing levels is significant.

• S&P500 (SPX) 353.86 Pts i.e. 7.419% UP at 5123.69 (2023 Closing level 4769.83) at its historic high.
• Nasdaq Composite 1073.76 Pts i.e. 7.153% UP at 16085.11 (2023 Closing level 15011.35) at its historic high.
• Russell1000 (RUI) 188 Pts i.e. 7.169% UP at 2810.12 (2023 Closing level at 2622.14) rep. Large Cap stocks.
• Russell3000 (RUA) 190.42 Pts i.e. 6.929% UP at 2938.63 (2023 Closing level at 2748.21) representing Global US stocks.
• Dow Jones 1033.61 Pts i.e. 2.742% UP at 38723.15 (2023 Closing level 37689.54) near at its historic high.
• Russell2000 (RUT) 55.6 Pts i.e. 2.745% UP at 2082.71 (2023 Closing level 2027.07) rep. Small Cap Stocks.

US Markets update – US Bond Yields since 2024 beginning

All the 3 major bond yields – 10 Years, 20 Years and 30 Years closed above 4% while there is some improvement seen in the rates. 10 Years rate got closed at 4.09%, 20 Years at 4.36% and 30 Years at 4.26% during the last week ended on 08th Mar 2024.

Yield Curve Trend in 2024 (Courtesy: ustreasuryyieldcurve.com)

What’s the buzz this week from key economic indicators?

US Markets Update: On economic indicators front, the news/updates created mixed sentiments among investors (bulls and bears):

Markit Economics released better than estimates figures for Services PMI for Feb i.e. 52.3 versus estimated value of 51.3. Similarly, Composite PMI for Feb24 was also better than estimates i.e. 52.5 versus estimated value of 51.4. This improvement in PMI and Composite PMI indicated under-current strength in the U.S. service sector economy.

On the other hand, Institute of Supply Management (ISM) also released the figures related to Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) (also known as the ISM Services PMI) which was slightly below the estimates i.e. 52.6 versus estimated value of 53. Also, another index on prices i.e. ISM Non-Manufacturing Prices for Feb came below estimates i.e. 58.6 versus forecast of 62.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics published fantastic figures for JOLT’s job openings on 06th Mar 2024. This value measures open job vacancies and the actual value was 8.863M versus 8.800M forecast. However, disappointing figures were published for U.S. Average Hourly Earnings MoM that measures the change in price that businesses pay for labor (excluding agriculture sector). The figure showed actual decline of 0.1% versus forecast of 0.2% rise.

On 06th Mar, ADP published disappointing figures for Non-Farm Payrolls i.e 140K actual versus 149K forecast.

Unemployment Rate for February also disappointed the investors that showed higher unemployment rate i.e. 3.9% versus forecast value of 3.7%.

Market took strong note from the testimony of Powell who reinforces position that the Fed is not ready to start cutting interest rates. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers remain attentive to the risks that inflation poses and don’t want to ease up too quickly, lowering rates too quickly risks losing the battle against inflation and likely having to raise rates further, while waiting too long poses danger to economic growth.

.

Key economic indicators to watch in next week

In the next week 11 (11-15 Mar, 2024), traders will be watching out key data to be released by Bureau of Labor Statistics related to CPI and Core CPI data.

US department of treasury will release data pertaining to auction of 30-Year treasury bonds that US Government does for borrowing money to cover the shortfall in the amount collected from taxes and that spent for running Govt, for refinancing existing debt and/or to raise capital.

Census Bureau to release data related to Retail Sales and Core Retail Sales.

Credit: Investing.com: Economic-Calendar