Last Week: The S&P 500 gained 3.26% to set another record high, while the yield on the Ten-Year Treasury jumped 9 basis points to 0.73%, its highest level since June 10th. Tech stocks continued to surge, with the Nasdaq composite adding 3.39% and is now up an incredible 30.35% YTD. The most significant development of the week came from the new monetary policy framework that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell unveiled, [...]
Last Week: Mega-cap tech stocks carried the S&P 500 to a new record high, with Apple accounting for 60% of the 0.7% weekly gain. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 2.65% and is now up 26.07% for 2020. The breadth of the market needed a tic-tac as decliners outnumbered advancers by almost 2-1. The Russell 2000 declined -1.61%, as small stocks remained -6.95% year-to-date. The impasse over further Federal coronavirus relief continued, [...]
Last Week: The S&P 500 gained 0.64% to finish at 3372.85, just fractionally below the record close of 3386.15 set on February 19 of this year. It briefly reached an all-time intra-day high Wednesday, before dipping lower later in the afternoon. Both the bond market and gold had difficult weeks, with the yield on the Ten-Year Treasury jumping 15 basis points to 0.71% and the yellow metal sliding 3.6% from its [...]
Last Week: The market continued to rebound fueled by better than expected corporate earnings, hope for another round of helicopter money from the government, and optimism over COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics development. Reality Check: 1) Second quarter earnings are tracking to post the largest decline since the financial crisis at -33.8%. Third quarter earnings will also drop double-digits from 2019 levels. 2) The bipartisan support that enabled the swift passage of [...]
Last Week: The glass is half empty: For Q2 2020, the blended earnings decline for the S&P 500 is -35.7%. If -35.7% is the actual decline for the quarter, it will mark the largest year-over-year decline in earnings reported by the index since Q4 2008 (-69.1%). The glass is half full: 84% of S&P 500 companies have reported a positive EPS surprise and 69% have reported a positive revenue surprise. If [...]