Telemus Weekly Market Review January 18th - January 22nd, 2021

January 18 – January 22 Week in Review

The markets were in rally mode last week pushing all the major indexes to new record closes. The shortened trading week featured renewed strength in the mega-cap stocks, which drove the outperformance of the Nasdaq Composite, up 4.2%, and lifted the S&P 500, up 1.9%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 0.6%, in the process. The small cap Russell 2000 also finished in positive territory gaining 2.2%.

Specifically Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook all rallied between 6-9% last week amid positive minded analyst recommendations and favorable investor sentiment. Another investor favorite, Netflix, surged over 13% after reporting better than expected earnings and strong subscriber growth.

The iShares US Home Construction ETF and Philadelphia Semiconductor Index were other pockets of strength. Together, the mega-caps, homebuilding stocks, and semiconductor stocks lifted the S&P 500 communication services, information technology, and consumer discretionary sectors to the top spots.

Homebuilding stocks rallied around positive housing data, including one report that featured the strongest pace of housing starts since September 2006.

Conversely, the financials, energy, and materials sectors cooled off amid profit-taking interest, with the financial sector unable to gain traction from a host of better than expected earnings reports.

In Washington, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President and immediately signed several executive orders to aid the fight against the coronavirus, and Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen asserted that it's time to "act big" on fiscal stimulus. Republican lawmakers, however, pushed back on President Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus proposal.

In the bond market rates were unchanged from last week. The 2 year Treasury yield closed at 0.127% and the 10 year yield finished at 1.09%.

In other markets WTI crude closed slightly lower at $51.98 a barrel, the U.S. Dollar index closed lower at 90.21 and gold prices rose closing at $1,855.50 an ounce.

January 25 – January 29 Economic Calendar