Market Recap Week Ending February 21
Monday – Markets were closed in observance of President’s Day.
Tuesday – Dow (166) to 29,232, NDAQ +2 to 9,733 and the S&P (10) to 3,370. Apple warned that it will miss its revenue guidance for its fiscal 2nd quarter due to the effects of the Coronavirus on Chinese demand and their suppliers…WalMart (WMT) missed both earnings and revenue expectations but still traded up on the day…Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) to spend $350-$400mn on store upgrades…Lending Club (LC) to acquire Radius Bancorp, becoming the first fintech company to buy a US bank…NASA gives Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPACE) approval to take civilians into space.
Wednesday – Dow +116 to 29,348, NDAQ +84 to 9,817 and the S&P +16 to 3,386. January PPI rose 0.5%, its biggest one month jump since October of 2018…The Fed released their January minutes showing that interest rates are likely to stay at current levels for the time being and that they are actively monitoring the Coronavirus situation…Garmin (GRMN) +6% on good earnings…Groupon (GRPN) announced a reverse stock split (the stock is currently trading at $1.70) and traded down 40% after badly missing their earnings expectations.
Thursday – Dow (128) to 29,219, NDAQ (66) to 9,750 and the S&P (13) to 3,373. News that additional Coronavirus cases had spread to South Korea took an otherwise quiet day on the market and plunged all three indices downward until they rallied a bit into the close…Dropbox (DBX) announced strong Q4 results and traded up 13% after hours…Fitbit (FIT) dropped 1% after missing top and bottom line expectations…First Solar (FSLR) swooned 15% after missing its Q4 expectations…MGM Resorts (MGM) reported that 10.6 million hotel guest information had been hacked…Fed Reserve Vice Chair Clarida doused hopes of a rate cut for 2020.
Friday – Dow (227) to 28,992, NDAQ (174) to 9,576 and the S&P (35) to 3,337. Continued bad news regarding the Coronavirus kept the indices on a downward trajectory with 800 new cases reported in China, 200 new cases in South Korea and 80 new cases in Japan…The February Purchasing managers index was weaker than expected and the services sector was especially weak, showing contraction for the first since 2016…Wells Fargo agreed to a $3bn settlement to resolve its fake account scandal.
For the week, the Dow (406) or 1.4%, NDAQ (155) or 1.6% and the S&P (43) or 1.3%.
Michael J. Castro