November 11 - November 15 Week in Review
It was another record setting week on Wall St last week with the S&P, Dow and Nasdaq all setting new records. For the week the S&P 500 rose 0.9%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite 0.8%. The small-cap Russell 2000 was left out of the rally falling 0.2% and still remains well below last year’s record close.
Most of last week’s gain came on Friday. Driving the action were comments from NEC Director Larry Kudlow who said a Phase One trade agreement was close to being reached. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro expressed similar views. Other "people familiar with the talks," however, told news outlets that both sides are struggling to overcome issues on exiting tariffs, enforcement mechanisms, and agricultural purchases.
The market remained cautiously optimistic as money flowed into the defensive oriented health care, real estate, and utilities sectors. The market's biggest technology names like Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet also participated in the rally. Laggards included the S&P 500 energy, financials, and consumer discretionary sectors.
Besides the trade news the market got some well received corporate news from Walt Disney, Boeing, and Walgreens Boots Alliance. Disney said 10 million users signed up for Disney+ in its first day. Boeing said it expects 737 MAX deliveries to resume in December and commercial service to resume in January. Walgreens reportedly received a leveraged buyout offer from KKR. Conversely Cisco Systems fell sharply on disappointing quarterly guidance.
President Trump's speech at the Economic Club of New York and Fed Chair Powell's two-day congressional testimony were two high profile events last week. Neither, however, provided the market information it didn't already know about trade negotiations, the economy, or monetary policy. As a result the markets didn’t respond much either way to the news.
In the bond market U.S. Treasuries finished last week higher, which sent interest rates lower across the curve. The 2 year yield declined five basis points to 1.61%, and the 10 year yield declined ten basis points to 1.83%.
In other markets the U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.4% to 97.99 and WTI crude increased 0.9%, or $0.54, to $57.75 a barrel.
November 18 – November 22 Economic Calendar