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Stocks Try To End Positive Week On A High Note

HTML clipboard FRIDAY – U.S. stocks rose slightly Friday morning as the S&P 500 looked to close out its second consecutive positive week.

The move comes after a solid session for stocks on Wednesday in which the S&P rose 1.4%, the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.9% and the Dow added 349 points.

For the week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 1.3% and 2.1%, respectively. Both are on track for their second-straight winning week. The Dow is down marginally week to date.

The rebound has come even as the war in Ukraine continues and the Federal Reserve is set to hike interest rates several more times this year.

Traders are keeping an eye on Europe as the Ukraine-Russia continues. The European Union on Friday struck a gas deal with the U.S. in an effort to reduce its dependency on Russian energy.

The news comes after President Joe Biden said Thursday at a NATO summit in Brussels that the U.S. would respond if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine.

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Stocks Rise Slightly After Wednesday’s Losses

HTML clipboard THURSDAY – Stocks rose early Thursday morning as investors tried to recover from declines in Wednesday’s regular trading session.

Investors are continuing to monitor the war in Ukraine and weigh the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes amid persistent inflation.

NATO leaders met in Brussels Thursday to discuss increasing pressure on Russia, as Ukraine appears to be retaking ground in the war.

Last week, the Fed raised interest rates for the first time since 2018. Chair Jerome Powell on Monday vowed to be tough on inflation and opened the door for more aggressive half-percentage-point rate hikes.

The S&P 500 fell into correction territory late February, but is now 7.5% off its highs. The Dow is also 7% from its intraday record and the Nasdaq Composite is off by 14%.

Stocks have seesawed this week, alternating between up and down days. The Dow is about 1% lower on the week while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are little changed.

All three major averages are on track to close the month at least 1% higher.

On the data front, initial jobless claims last week totaled 187,000.

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Stocks Extend Losses

U.S. stocks eased Wednesday as oil prices rose, renewing inflation fears.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 410 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 declined 1%. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.9%.

Traders digested the latest news on the Ukraine-Russia war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for more pressure on Russia from other countries as the conflict appears to be entering a stalemate.

Oil prices ticked higher on the day, with international oil benchmark Brent crude advancing nearly 5% to top $120 per barrel. U.S. crude gained around 4% to more than $114 per barrel.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield surpassed 2.41% at its session high Wednesday, the highest since May 2019. The benchmark rate has surged since the beginning of the week, when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell vowed to be aggressive on inflation. The Fed last week raised interest rates for the first time since 2018.

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Stocks Fall As Oil Prices Rise

WEDNESDAY – U.S. stocks dipped in early morning trading on Wednesday as oil prices gained, renewing inflation fears.

Traders digested the latest news on the Ukraine-Russia war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for more pressure on Russia from other countries as the conflict appears to be entering a stalemate.

Oil prices ticked higher on the day, with U.S. crude gaining about 3% to more than $112 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, advanced about 3% to roughly $119.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield topped 2.41% at its session high Wednesday, the highest since May 2019.

Wall Street is coming off a strong session Tuesday in which the Dow jumped more than 250 points and the S&P 500 climbed 1.1%.

Federal Reserve Chair Powell on Monday promised aggressive action on inflation. The comments came after the Fed last week raised interest rates for the first time since 2018 and forecast a plan to hike rates by a quarter-point at each of the remaining six meetings of 2022.

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Stocks Drop Again To Start Week

U.S. equities fell Monday morning, but traded off their lows, as U.S. oil prices pulled back from their highest level since 2008 amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, traded 6.3% higher to $122.96 per barrel, earlier hitting $130 per barrel at one point before pulling back partially. The international benchmark, Brent crude, traded 6.24% higher to $125.51 per barrel after earlier spiking to $139.13 per barrel — its highest since July 2008.

Gas prices surged to their highest level since 2008, with the national average hitting $4.06 a gallon, according to AAA.

Despite the move away from risk, government bond yields rose, indicating less demand for safe-haven assets. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was most recently at 1.76%, up nearly 4 basis points on the session as inflation worries pushed yields up.

Positive data from the U.S. Labor Department wasn’t enough for investors to shrug off concerns about the war between Russia and Ukraine. On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the economy added 678,000 jobs in February. The monthly jobs gain topped economists’ expectations of 440,000 as gauged by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate slipped to 3.8%.

Last, the Dow and S&P 500 slid about 1.3%. The Dow notched its fourth losing week and the S&P 500 closed in correction territory on Friday, down more than 10% from its record close. The Nasdaq Composite lost roughly 2.8% and is also in a technical correction.

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Stocks Lower With Eyes On Ukraine

THURSDAY – Stocks dipped in early morning trading Thursday but were off their lows as strong earnings from Walmart helped boost sentiment.

In early earnings action, Walmart topped expectations and reaffirmed guidance, sending shares up 1.7% in premarket trading and helping to stem losses for futures.

On the economic front, weekly jobless claims numbers came in at 248,000, rising from the previous week and above the 218,000 expected, according to a Dow Jones estimate. Housing permits for January showed a surprise increase, but housing starts lagged expectations.

The S&P 500 in Wednesday’s regular trading session closed little changed, while the Dow shed nearly 55 points and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.1%.

The major stock averages came off their lows Wednesday after the release of minutes from the Fed’s January meeting.

The meeting summary showed the Fed is prepared to hike interest rates and reduce its balance sheet soon, as investors had already expected.

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Stocks Jump On Easing Tensions

TUESDAY – U.S. stocks jumped on Tuesday after Russia appeared to be backing away from an immediate invasion of Ukraine, cooling geopolitical tensions that have knocked the stock market down the last three days.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had begun returning some troops to deployment bases after training exercises near the Ukrainian border.

WTI crude prices fell 3%, while the 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 2.04% as tensions eased. The VanEck Russia ETF, a U.S.-traded fund which invests in big Russian stocks, jumped nearly 5% in premarket trading.

In addition to the Ukraine drama, investors will get another look at inflation Tuesday. The January producer price index, which measures final-demand wholesale prices, will be released at 8:30 and is expected to show a monthly gain of 0.5%.

Wall Street is coming off a volatile Monday trading session.

The Dow closed lower by 171.89 points, or 0.5%, after falling more than 400 points at one point. The S&P 500 dropped as much as 1.2% before ending the day 0.4% lower. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9% at one point before closing just below the flatline.

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Stocks Rise Ahead of Earnings

U.S. stock futures rose in early morning trading on Wednesday as investors digested another batch of corporate earnings and tech shares looked to build on their rebound.

Through Tuesday’s close, the Nasdaq Composite has gained more than 6% from its recent low on Jan. 27 after falling into correction territory earlier this year.

Mortgage applications dropped 10% week over week, however, as the rise in interest rates in recent months appears to have dampened demand among homebuyers.

Yields have risen this year in part because of a more aggressive stance from the Federal Reserve. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told CNBC on Wednesday that three rate hikes are possible this year but that the central bank is not locked in to any path and will watch how the economy responds.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 370 points, helped by a 7.8% pop in Amgen on the back of its strong earnings report. The S&P 500 also registered a gain, climbing 0.8%. The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite rose 1.3%.

As of the closing bell on Tuesday, nearly 60% of all S&P 500 companies have reported fourth-quarter earnings and roughly 77% have topped Wall Street’s earnings estimates, according to FactSet.

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Stocks Rise After Nasdaq Hits Correction Territory

U.S. stocks posted solid gains Thursday morning, with Nasdaq up nearly 1% the day after dipping into correction territory.

Stocks held their ground even as government bond yields again edged higher, part of a market repricing as the Federal Reserve gets set to tighten monetary policy.

The central bank meets next week, with markets indicating just a slight chance of action on interest rates. However, traders have fully priced in the first of what is expected to be four 0.25 percentage point hikes through 2022.

The two-year Treasury, which is most closely tied to Fed rate policy, most recently yielded about 1.04%, while the benchmark 10-year note was at 1.84%.

Markets were looking ahead to more earnings reports as well as the weekly update on initial jobless claims and existing home sales.

On the economy, the Dow Jones estimate for claims in the week ended Jan. 15 is 225,000, slightly less than the 230,000 from the previous period. Home sales for December are expected to total 6.48 million, a modest 0.3% increase from November, which had posted a gain of 1.9%.

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Stocks Jump After Trump Tweet

THURSDAY – Stocks jumped in early trading Thursday after President Donald Trump said China and the U.S. were zeroing in on a trade deal, lifting hope that an agreement will be reached before a key deadline.

The S&P 500 hit a record high, rising 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 250 points higher, or 0.9%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8%.

Trump said in a tweet both sides were getting “VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China. They want it, and so do we!”

His tweet comes after Reuters reported that Trump was meeting with his top trade officials on Thursday ahead of a Sunday trade deadline. If an agreement is not reached by then, additional U.S. levies on Chinese products will take effect.

Stocks started December on the wrong foot as worries around U.S.-China trade relations increased. In the first two sessions of the month, the Dow lost more than 500 points.

Still, the major averages are up sharply for the year. The S&P 500 and Dow have jumped 25.3% and 19.7%, respectively, year to date. The Nasdaq is up around 30%.

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