Week Ending February 23rd
Markets rallied at the latter half of the week with the S&P 500 returning 1.68%. The Nasdaq also saw strong returns of 1.44%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued climbing to record highs posting a 1.32% gain this past week. Small Caps (Russell 2000) lagged the major US indexes and retreated by -0.88%.
The biggest news that moved last week’s rally was Nvidia’s strong earnings report, which was released after market close Wednesday. Earnings growth continued to be led by a strong shift in Data Center demand, management noted that this segment tripled in sales year-over-year. This rally continues to be fueled by Artificial Intelligence and the potential that comes with these products. Other semiconductor stocks caught a tailwind from this news, with SPDR’s semiconductor ETF rising 2.24% in the day following Nvidia’s earnings call.
January existing home sales reported on Thursday and sales came in slightly higher than expected (4Mil Annualized v. 3.97Mil expected). The median price for an existing home sale increased 5.1% year-over-year, while inventories increased by 2%. Prices remain sticky as supply continues to be insufficient for the current demand, despite sales being near 2010 lows.
The FOMC meeting minutes were released on Wednesday, the committee continues to be cautious regarding inflation. Several participants remain “highly attentive” to current inflation risks. The minutes remained consistent with the current stance from the Fed: Higher for Longer.
In the week ahead, Retail earnings are picking up with TGT, LOW, EBAY, DLTR, TJX & BBY. Additionally, more soft data will be reported starting with consumer confidence (2/27) and ISM Manufacturing PMIs (3/1). Most watched economic report this week: PCE (2/29).
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