Market Recap Week Ending February 14th
Monday – Dow +174 to 29,276, NDAQ +108 to 9,628 (record) and the S&P +27 to 3,352 (record). AMZN led the NDAQ to record highs along with GOOG and NFLX.
Tuesday – Dow flat to 29,276, NDAQ +10 to 9,638 (record) and the S&P +5 to 3,357 (record). The merger of T-mobile and Sprint was approved and their stocks surged 12% and 78% respectively…UA missed numbers and fell 19%…Fed Chair Powell said that the central bank was closely monitoring the Coronavirus and its affect on the global economy…Meanwhile the death toll has climbed to 1100 with 45,000 world wide infections…Senator Bernie Sanders won a narrow victory over Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the New Hampshire Democratic primary…Job openings dropped in December to their lowest levels in 2 years…Earnings statistics; sales have increased 5% and earnings are up 2.4%, leaving the S&P trading at 19x 2020 earnings, which is considered somewhat overvalued compared to historical norms. of 16x forward earnings.
Wednesday – Dow +275 to 29,551 (record), NDAQ +87 to 9725 (record) and the S&P +21 to 3,379 (record). Growing confidence that the Coronavirus outbreak may be peaking lifted all three indices to record highs. Energy stocks led the advances, with oil gaining 2.8% and copper rallying as well…CVS reported strong earnings…WU fell 6.9% after hours after missing their numbers…CSCO down 4% after beating top and bottom line expectations but investors were disappointed with lackluster growth as revenues were down 4% year over year.
Thursday – Dow (128) to 29,423, NDAQ (14) to 9,711 and the S&P (5) to 3,373. Coronavirus infections jumped dramatically overnight as Chinese officials changed their testing protocol and began testing suspected patients for pneumonia via a CT scan. Global infections ate at 64,435 with 1,383 deaths…A judge instructed MSFT to stop work on the Pentagon JEDI contract as AMZN filed a lawsuit alleging an unfair bidding practice…NVDA beat numbers and rose 6.1% after hours…EXPE beat their Q4 numbers and traded up 10% after hours…CPI came in at 0.1% for January missing economic forecasts of 0.2%. Core CPI which excludes food and energy was up 0.24% in January and inflation adjusted weekly earnings were flat, suggesting that the consumer is not keeping pace with inflation.
Friday – Dow (25) to 29,398, NDAQ +19 to 9,731 and the S&P +6 to 3,380. Friday was a ho hum day with Coronavirus concerns battling against a report that the White House wants to introduce tax breaks to buy equities…Retail sales posted a modest 0.3% gain January over December with considerable weakness in clothing, accessory stores, and electronics.
For the week…Dow +296 or 1%, NDAQ +211 or 2.2%, and the S&P +53 or 1.5%. This is the second consecutive week with gains across the board despite the worries of the Coronavirus. Monday the markets are closed in observance of President’s day…Earnings season is winding down: Tues WMT and MDT, Wed DISH, ADI, Thur VIAC, ED.
Michael J. Castro