US Markets Update 2004 Week2 Recap
Summary of the week:
Overall, last week i.e. 2nd week of 2024 was good for US Markets, mainly for Tech and Large Cap Stocks. Bank Stocks mostly declined.
US Markets Update – Among Global indexes, NASDAQ Composite rose by more than 3% for the week, while S&P 500 rose by 1.843% and RUSSELL3000 (RUA) rose by 1.697% for the past week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a mild upward change of 0.339% on weekly basis.
RUSSELL2000 (RUT) Small-Cap remained almost unchanged on weekly basis and RUSSELL1000 (RUI) Large-Cap also rose by 1.79%.
Key heavy-weight stocks that ROSE on weekly basis:
- AAPL (Apple Inc.) up by 4.74 USD (2.616%) to close at 185.92 $ per share
- GOOGL (GOOGLE) up by 6.92 USD (5.098%) to close at 142.65 $ per share
- MSFT (MICROSOFT CORP.) up by 20.72 USD (5.634%) to close at 388.47 $ per share
- MRK (MERCK&CO) up by 1.41 USD (1.203%) to close at 118.63 $ per share
Among the heavy-weight stocks that FALL on weekly basis are:
- AXP (American Express Company) fell by 7.02 USD (3.713%) to close at 182.04 $ per share
- TESL (TESLA INC.) fell by 18.60 USD (7.832%) to close at 218.89 $ per share
Weekly change summary in Major Indices
DJIA (US30) rose by 127.13 points i.e., 0.339%.
NASDAQ COMP rose by 448.69 points i.e., 3.089%
S&P500 (SPX) rose by 86.59 points i.e., 1.843%
RUSSELL3000 (RUA) Global rose by 45.81 points i.e., 1.697%
RUSSELL2000 (RUT) Small Cap remained almost flat.
RUSSELL1000 (RUI) Large Cap rose by 46.24 points i.e., 1.793%
YTD change on key Indices
On YTD basis, major indices came back near to their 2023 closing levels:
- Nasdaq Composite 38 Pts Down at 14972.76 (2023 Closing level 15011.35)
- Dow Jones 96 Pts Down at 37593.24 (2023 Closing level 37689.54)
- S&P500 (SPX) 14 Pts Up at 4783.83 (2023 Closing level 4769.83)
- Russell2000 (RUT) 76 Pts Down at 1950.96 (2023 Closing level 2027.07) rep. Small Cap Stocks.
- Russell3000 (RUA) 2.46 Pts Down at 2745.75 (2023 Closing level at 2748.21) rep. Global US stocks.
- Russell1000 (RUI) 3.16 Pts Up at 2625.3 (2023 Closing level at 2622.14) rep. Large Cap stocks.
Other key indicators that impacted US Markets last week
US Yields, CPI and PPI Readings, Bank Earnings remained in focus last week.
US Yields
Barring 2 Years maturity which has come down slightly, 10 Years, 20 Years and 30 Years maturity yield all have rising on yearly basis (2024- Past two weeks).
Yield Curve Trend in 2024 (Courtesy: ustreasuryyieldcurve.com)
CPI and PPI Readings:
On Friday, the consumer price index (CPI) numbers were released, that got increased by 3.4% in December from the number an year ago, a slight rise from the last month’s 3.1% reading. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, continued to slow, falling to 3.9% from 4%. In contrast to CPI, the producer price index (PPI), also released last week, came in below expectations and unexpectedly declined 0.1% from the prior month
Car insurance costs surged 20% from a year ago
On Geo-political news side, transportation cost continue to be on increasing trend due to Israel-Gaza conflicts and tensions in the Red Sea.
Bank Earnings
Bank earnings kicked off the fourth-quarter earnings season on Friday, and with the sector rallying over the past two months, stocks pulled back in response to mixed earnings.
JPMorgan Chase missed street expectations, reported fourth-quarter EPS (Earnings per share) of $3.04 and Revenue of $38.6 billion. Results from Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo also couldn’t impress the investors. Barring Citigroup shares, all other three major Banks reported decline on Friday after results were announced.
JP Morgan Chase shared got closed at $169.05 per share after hitting a high of $176.31 per share, i.e. 0.73% decline on Friday.
Wells Fargo & Co. share got closed at $47.40 per share after hitting a high of $ 48.78 per share, i.e. 3.34% declined on Friday.
Citigroup stock got closed with mild gains at $52.62 per share after hitting a high of $ 53.85 per share on Friday.
What’s the buzz this week and for next week?
Post CPI numbers publication on Friday, media reports pointed towards fresh hopes that the Fed might cut interest rates soon.
Focus will be on fresh economic data to be released next week i.e. retail sales along with December housing starts and building permits.
