January 11 – January 15 Week in Review
The stock market faced some selling pressure last week, but not before the Dow and Nasdaq reached fresh record highs. The two indices lost a respective 0.9% and 1.5% for the week while the S&P 500 lost 1.5%. Small caps outperformed notably with the Russell 2000 ending the week with a 1.5% gain.
The S&P 500 spent the first three days of the week in a slow crawl toward its record from January 8th while the Dow and Nasdaq rose to fresh records. High-beta names were particularly impressive, as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index gained 1.9% while the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF climbed more than 2.0% for the week.
High-beta stocks and small caps remained in positive territory even as the broader market faced some pressure on Thursday and Friday. The losses were concentrated in some of the biggest index components like Apple, Facebook, and Amazon while less influential names and stocks that stand to benefit from commodity inflation outperformed.
The energy sector fell 4.0% on Friday, but it still gained 3.1% for the week, extending its January advance to 12.7%.
President-elect Joe Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan on Friday and the December retail sales report came in weaker than expected, underscoring the coronavirus pandemic’s continued effect on the economy. Investors are hoping that additional spending will help get the economy through a winter that has seen high Covid-19 infection rates and worsening economic data. Figures released Thursday showed that the number of workers filing for jobless benefits posted its biggest weekly gain since the pandemic hit last March.
On the earnings front the Q4 reporting season was kicked off on Friday by the big banks with better than expected earnings from Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.
In the bond market the 2 year Treasury yield fell 1 basis point to 0.129% and the 10 year yield fell 3 basis points to 1.09%. Fed Chairman Powell reiterated on Thursday that the fed funds rate will not be raised for a long time.
In other markets WTI crude closed lower at $52.04 a barrel, the U.S. Dollar index closed higher at 90.78 and gold prices fell closing at $1,827.70 an ounce.
January 18 – January 22 Economic Calendar