ClientFirst Financial Strategies
Financial Planning and Portfolio Management
Statistically, the labor market has shown recent signs of slowing. Taken alongside the news that China is restricting the use of Apple iPhones for its governmental workers, all three major US stock market indices produced negative returns this past week.
Much the same as the nine-game losing streak by the NY Yankees, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped their three-week losing streaks this week.
All three major US stock market indices were down for the week. We’re not sure whether this is attributable to or despite several decent economic indicators, including retail sales, housing starts, and industrial production.
Coca Cola’s old slogan — “the pause that refreshes” — reminds us of the US stock market in August.
The big news last week was that Fitch downgraded the US Treasury’s credit rating to AA+ from AAA. After all, we have been running continuous budget deficits since the Clinton administration in 2001!
Second quarter earnings season is in full swing posting solid +3% year-over-year growth and propelling the major US stock market indices to another positive week and a new 52-week high for the S&P 500. Approximately 80% of reported earnings have been better than expected.
The Dow Jones is on a hot streak with ten straight positive trading days while the other two major US stock market indices came in mixed for the week (i.e., DJIA: +2.28%, S&P 500: +0.69%, Nasdaq: -0.57%). Although you shouldn’t wish your life away, many investors wouldn’t mind closing the book on 2023 right now with year-to-date returns of +6.28%, +18.15% and +34.07%, respectively!
All three major US stock market indices produced nice gains for the week. Which factors are driving this market upward? Inflation and unemployment are two of them.
The five-day workweek reverted to four days with the July 4th holiday. The US stock market indices certainly didn’t launch any fireworks with all three posting losses.
After five straight weeks of gains for the S&P 500 and eight for the Nasdaq, all three major US stock market indices lost ground this past week. Those seven high-flying tech stocks—AAPL, MSFT, GOOGL, AMZN, NVDA, TSLA, and META—were the main culprits.