HaiKhuu Weekly Recap & Analysis
March 4 - March 8, 2024
MAJOR EVENTS OF LAST WEEK
Major Indices’ Weekly Movement:
S&P 500: +0.38%
Nasdaq: -0.04%
Dow Jones: -0.73%
Highlights:
The S&P 500 (SPY) reached a new all-time high of $518.22
The Nasdaq (QQQ) reached a new all-time high of $448.64
Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $70,136
Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Testimony on Monetary Policy:
Rate cuts will depend on the path of the economy
There’s no reason to think the economy is in or faces significant near-term risk of recession
We are very focused on AI
DAILY EVENT BREAKDOWN
Monday, March 4
Stock Related News:
JetBlue and Spirit Airlines terminated its $3.8 billion merger agreement
A federal judge initially blocked the attempted merger in January after the Justice Department sued to bar the deal last year alleging the acquisition would stifle competition
Macy's shares surged 15% after Arkhouse & Brigade Capital increased their offer to acquire Macy's to $24/share
SuperMicro shares surged 26% after news that it will join the S&P 500
Warner Brothers’ streaming service HBO Max will start cracking down on password sharing, following in the footsteps of Netflix
Former Twitter Executives are suing Elon Musk for over $128 million in severance
Economic News:
Fed’s Bostic on Rate Cuts:
I would not anticipate that cuts, when they start, to be back-to-back
I still expect two quarter-percentage-point cuts this year
I do not have a case for when it might be appropriate to reduce the pace of the balance sheet decline
Major Indices:
S&P 500: -0.11%
Nasdaq: -0.36%
Dow Jones: -0.28%
Tuesday, March 5
Stock Related News:
Lawmakers are getting ready to propose legislation that would effectively force China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok if they want to stay in the US market
Facebook and Instagram experienced widespread outages globally, affecting hundreds of thousands of users
Apple stock tumbled on news that iPhone sales dropped 24% in China
SoFi announced the proposal of $750 million convertible senior notes offering due 2029
Economic News:
ISM Services:
PMI 52.6 (Forecast 53, Previous 53.4)
Employment 48 (Previous 50.5)
New Orders Actual 56.1 (Previous 55.0)
Prices Paid Actual 58.6 (Forecast 62, Previous 64.0)
Durable Goods Revised -6.2% (Forecast -6.1%, Previous -6.1%)
Core -0.4% (Forecast -0.3%, Previous -0.3%)
S&P Services PMI Final 52.3 (Forecast 51.4, Previous 51.3)
S&P Composite PMI Final 52.5 (Forecast 51.4, Previous 51.4
Redbook YoY 3.1% (Previous 2.7%)
Major Indices:
S&P 500: -1.00%
Nasdaq: -1.79%
Dow Jones: -1.04%
Wednesday, March 6
Stock Related News:
Rating Agency Moody’s upgraded Nvidia’s credit rating to Aa3 from A1
A Microsoft engineer warned that the company’s AI tool creates violent, sexual images, and ignores copyrights
OpenAI said that Elon Musk wanted OpenAI to merge with Tesla back in February 2018 so that OpenAI could get the necessary funding it needed
Palantir was awarded a $178M contract with the US Army for the development of 10 TITAN prototypes
Economic News:
JOLTS Job Openings 8.863M (Forecast 8.85M, Previous 9.026M)
Wholesale Inventories MoM Rev. -0.3% (Forecast -0.1%, Previous -0.1%)
Wholesale Sales MoM -1.7% (Forecast 0.3%, Previous 0.7%)
Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Testimony on Monetary Policy:
Rate cuts will depend on the path of the economy
There’s no reason to think the economy is in or faces significant near-term risk of recession
We are very focused on AI
As we go forward, 12-month inflation will continue to drop. I am not looking for better inflation readings than we’ve had, I am looking for more of what we have seen
We should be prepared to be surprised by the next chapter in the economy
Major Indices:
S&P 500: +0.51%
Nasdaq: +0.63%
Dow Jones: +0.26%
Thursday, March 7
Stock Related News:
Rivian held an event to unveil its new fleet of vehicles: the R2, R3, and R3X
Novo Nordisk hit record highs of $138.28 as it advances its oral weight-loss drug
Novo says the drug reduces weight by 13% over 12 weeks
HP announced it is partnering with Nvidia and will integrate its data processing libraries into its HP AI workstations
Microsoft announced an AI event “Advancing the new era of work with Copilot” to be held on March 21
Economic News:
Jobless Claims:
Initial Claims 217k (Forecast 216k, Previous 215k)
Continued Claims 1.906M (Forecast 1.88M, Previous 1.905M)
Consumer Credit 19.49B (Forecast 10B, Previous 1.56B)
US Trade Balance -67.4B (Forecast -63.5B, Previous -62.2B)
Fed's Powell on the Housing Market:
The quantity of homes available for sale is incredibly low
The housing market is in a very very difficult situation
Fed's Bowman says we are not at the point of rate cuts and she remains willing to raise the policy rate if data shows progress on inflation has stalled or reversed
Major Indices:
S&P 500: -0.20%
Nasdaq: -0.25%
Dow Jones: -0.29%
Friday, March 8
Stock Related News:
The S&P 500 (SPY) reached a new all-time high of $518.22
The Nasdaq (QQQ) reached a new all-time high of $448.64
Nvidia reached a new all-time high of $974
Rumors of a split have begun circulating from Bloomberg, but no word directly from Nvidia
Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $70,136
TSMC was awarded more than $5B in grants for a US semiconductor plant
China is readying $27B for its largest chip fund to date to counter US restrictions
Rivian’s CEO announced they received 68,000 reservations for its new R2 vehicle
Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy drug received FDA approval for heart health benefits
Economic News:
Unemployment Data:
Unemployment Rate 3.9% (Forecast 3.7%, Previous 3.7%)
Labor Force Participation 62.5% (Forecast 62.6%, Previous 62.5%)
Average Earnings YoY 4.3% (Forecast 4.3%, Previous 4.5%)
Average Workweek Hrs 34.3 (Forecast 34.3, Previous 34.1)
Nonfarm Payrolls Actual 275k (Forecast 200k, Previous 353k)
Manufacturing Payrolls -4k (Forecast 7k, Previous 23k)
Treasury Secretary Yellen on Inflation:
There's no evidence of inflationary pressure coming from the labor market
The US economy is performing better than any other economy around the world, powering the global economy as well
Major Indices:
S&P 500: -0.37%
Nasdaq: -1.23%
Dow Jones: +0.04%
