US Markets Update – 24’Rally heat-up as bulls hold the grip
US Markets Update – 2024 Week8 Update/Recap
US Markets Update – During the 8th week of 2024, major indices continued rally and trading seen around fresh record highs in stocks under most of the indices. Nasdaq Composite gained 1.402% this week and among the key tech stocks, NVIDIA remained the top star after AI Chipmaker NVIDIA stock surge to an all time high and now at 3rd position in market capitalization(1.97T USD) . S&P 500 closed at new high at 5088.80 after rising by 1.663% this week.
Markets marched north-side even when US treasury yields rates remained on higher side keeping bulls cautious while markets trade at around lifetime highs. On Small caps, Russell Index for small-cap i.e. RUT (Russell 2000) closed 0.079% lower on weekly basis, while on yearly basis, the index is trading just 10 points below (2016.69 points) from the 2023 closing levels (2027 Points).
Other important Russell Indices such as RUA (Russell 3000) Global index and RUI (Russell 1000) for large-cap gained by 1.4% and 1.5% on weekly basis maintaining the strength intact.
US Markets Update – Summary of the 2024 Week 8:
US Markets Update – Among Global indexes, at broader level all the indices showed great rally and are now trading at lifetime high levels.
NASDAQ Composite Index rose by 1.402% i.e. (221.17 points) for this week.
S&P 500 rose by 1.663% (83 Points) made another closing high record this week and similarly, DJIA (US30) closed at all-time high level i.e. 39131.53 after rising by 1.3% (503 points).
RUSSELL3000 (RUA) Global index rose by 1.41% (40.49 Points) ,
RUSSELL1000 (RUI) Large Cap index rose by 1.53% (42 Points) and
RUSSELL2000 (RUT) Small Cap index down by 0.79% (16 Points) during the past week.
US Markets Update – Key heavy-weight stocks that ROSE on weekly basis:
- NVDA (NVIDIA CORP) rose by 62.04 USD (8.544%) to close at 788.17 $ per share
- META (META PLATFORMS) rose by 10.71 USD (2.263%) to close at 484.03 $ per share
- MSFT (MICROSOFT CORP.) rose by 6.28 USD (1.554%) to close at 410.34 $ per share
- GOOGL (Google) rose by 4.77 USD (3.395%) to close at 145.29 $ per share
- MRK (MERCK&CO) rose by 1.66 USD (1.299%) to close at 129.45 $ per share
- AXP (AMEX) rose by 2 USD (0.941%) to close at 214.56 $ per share
- AAPL (Apple Inc.) rose by 0.21 USD (0.115%) to close at 182.52 $ per share
US Markets Update : Among the key heavy-weight stocks that FALL on weekly basis are:
- BKNG (BOOKING HOLDINGS INC.) lost 210.88 USD (5.674%) to close at 3505.96 $ per share
- TESL (TESLA INC.) lost 7.98 USD (3.991%) to close at 191.97 $ per share
US Markets Update : Among the small-cap stocks that remained active on weekly basis are:
- ROOT (ROOT INC.) gained 90.348% to close at 16.96$ per share
- LUNR (INTUITIVE MACHINES INC.) gained 31% to close at 9.59$ per share
- TRUP(TRUPANION) gained by 0.524% to close at 23$ per share
- HOLO(MICROCLOUD Hologram) down by 90% to close at 6.61$ per share
- NNOX(NANOXIMAGING) down by 33.44% to close at 8.62$ per share
- COGT (COGENT BIO, Inc.) lost 17.517% to close at 7.44$ per share
- HEAR (TURTLE BEACH) declined by 11.139% to close at 10.77$ per share
- AVNW (AVIAT NETWORKS) down by 2% to close at 34.32$ per share
- COHR (COHERENT) declined by 1.44% to close at 58.86 $ per share
- TTMI (TTM TECHNOLOGIES) declined by 1.406% to close at 15.43$ per share
- TDS(TELEPHONE AND DATA SYSTEMS) declined by 0.071% to close at 14.03$ per share
LUNR (Intuitive Machines Inc.) shares ended Friday on a higher note, with a market cap of just under $1 billion after its “Odysseus” spacecraft successfully landed on the moon on Thursday evening. It was the first time that the US has landed on the moon in more than 50 years. However, in after-market hours market development, the stock fell due to the news that Odysseus tipped over when it landed on moon’s surface. The stock may show wild moves due to its sensibility to the moon mission.
ROOT after sharing strong numbers with revenues better than expected 20% ahead of forecasts, the shares gained whopping 90% plus past week.
HOLO – China based holographic technology services company shares were suspended on Tuesday after a report by Hindenburg Research, a U.S. investment research firm that specializes in exposing corporate fraud and malfeasance through short-selling.
US Markets – 2024 YTD change on the key Indices
On YTD basis, major indices rose sharply from 2023 closing levels creating new records of historic highs, however, the small caps did not well participated in overall rising trend on yearly basis.
- S&P500 (SPX) 319 Pts i.e. 6.687% UP at 5088.80 (2023 Closing level 4769.83) at its historic high.
- Nasdaq Composite 985 Pts i.e. 6.565% UP at 15996.82 (2023 Closing level 15011.35) near historic high.
- Russell1000 (RUI) 167 Pts i.e. 6.378% UP at 2,789 (2023 Closing level at 2622.14) rep. Large Cap stocks.
- Russell3000 (RUA) 165 Pts i.e. 6% UP at 2913 (2023 Closing level at 2748.21) representing Global US stocks.
- Dow Jones 1442 Pts i.e. 3.826% UP at 39131.53 (2023 Closing level 37689.54) at its historic high.
- Russell2000 (RUT) 10 Pts i.e. 0.512% DOWN at 2016.69 (2023 Closing level 2027.07) rep. Small Cap Stocks. This Index reversed back in negative territory for 2024 last week.
US Markets update – US Bond Yields since 2024 beginning
All the 3 major bond yields – 10 Years, 20 Years and 30 Years closed at near to record high levels in 2024, remained a persistent worry for bulls. FOMC minutes had revealed that Fed is in no hurry to cut the rates citing inflation control being the primary objective before any rate cut can be announced.
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 remained mix.
FOMC meeting detailed minutes got published on Tuesday the 20th Feb 2024. Federal Reserve Bank was in no hurry to reduce interest rates in the near-term. Policymakers citing concerns over sticky inflation signalled that the priority remains for arresting inflation. The traders expectations for rate cuts in May and potentially in June are getting faded up. While China came forward with rate cuts on Tuesday announcing its biggest ever reduction in the benchmark mortgage rate by 25 basis points.The five-year loan prime rate (LPR) was lowered by 25 basis points to 3.95% from 4.20% previously, while the one-year LPR was left unchanged at 3.45%.
S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI came in better than that of estimates whereas S&P Global US Services PMI published on 22nd Feb Thursday showed less improvement than it was expected.
Key economic indicators to watch in next week
In the next week 9 (26 Feb-01 Mar, 2024), traders will be watching out key data to be released-
GDP QoQ (Feb),
S&P Global US Manufacturing PMI (Feb) and
U.S. ISM Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI).
Credit: Investing.com: Economic-Calendar
