To The Moon

Notes: Dozens of major companies will report earnings in this week, but Friday's jobs report could be the main catalyst for the market.

The major U.S. stock indexes rallied last week after the FED's hiked rates decisions. The $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$ had its biggest one-day percentage gain in 2 years, surging 4.1% on last Wednesday. 

The U.S. Federal Reserve enacted a 75bps rate hike on Wednesday in continued efforts to dampen inflation, U.S GDP contracted at -0.9% in the Q2 of 2022, fanning fears of a recession.

For weekly performances, we can see 3 major U.S. stocks indexes see 3%~4% increases. As of July,  $DJIA(.DJI)$  increased 6.73%, $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$ increased 12.35%, $S&P 500(.SPX)$ see 9.1% increase. A positive rebound since April. $S&P/ASX 200(XJO.AU)$, $Straits Times Index(STI.SI)$ .

All three major U.S. stock indexes posted their biggest monthly gains in at least 20 months. The $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$ hit a three-month high and the $S&P 500(.SPX)$,$DJIA(.DJI)$ hit a new seven-week high, both posting their best monthly performances since 2020.

Stocks entered August on a rosy July note, but the S&P 500 has lost an average of 0.5% in August since 1995, according to CFRA. August was also the third most volatile month, with only three major S&P sectors posting average August gains over the same period: real estate, technology and utilities.

Are you optimistic about the market in August? Before this answer, let's take a look at some important data and blockbuster events to watch this week.

Sectors Performances:

Data From https://finviz.com/

From the below chart, we can see all sectors rose last week, led by the energy sector, which rose more than 10%, followed by utilities, which rose more than 6%, and energy and technology stocks led the gains. Two oil giants, $Chevron(CVX)$ and $Exxon Mobil(XOM)$ , hit record highs in their Q2 profits. Two tech giants, $Apple(AAPL)$ and $Amazon.com(AMZN)$ , both delivered Q2 results that were better than Wall Street’s expectations. Amazon’s first one-day rise in five months 10%, and Apple's market value surged by about $196 billion in one day.

All sectors also rose in July, with consumer discretionary rising nearly 19%, followed by Information Technology sectors, which rose more than 13%, and industrials and energy, which rose more than 9%.

Top Gainners of S&P 500：

Mothly Performance Data From https://finviz.com/

Most of the leading technology stocks continued to rise last week, with $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ closing up nearly 9.15% to its highest level since May 4.

Among the six major technology stocks of FAANMG, $Amazon.com(AMZN)$ closed up 10.24%, the largest increase since February and a new high since April 28, $Microsoft(MSFT)$ and $Alphabet(GOOG)$ rose nearly 8%, $Apple(AAPL)$ rose nearly 5.46%, both hit new highs since May 4. 

All of these tech stocks rose last week. Only $Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$ fell 6%.

As of July, Tesla rose more than 30%, Netflix rose more than 28%, Amazon rose more than 23%, the largest monthly gain since October 2009, Apple rose nearly 17%, Microsoft rose more than 9%, Alphabet rose nearly 8%.

$Amazon.com(AMZN)$ ,$Apple(AAPL)$ ,$Microsoft(MSFT)$ ,$Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ ,$Alphabet(GOOG)$ ,$NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$ ,$Exxon Mobil(XOM)$ ,$Chevron(CVX)$ ,$Broadcom(AVGO)$ ,$Wal-Mart(WMT)$ ,$Costco(COST)$ .

Other Markets

Among the commodities, the media said that the OPEC+ meeting next week will consider maintaining the current production level in September, and there is little hope of expanding production increases, and the weekly increase in international $Light Crude Oil - main 2208(CLmain)$ oil expanded. This week, US oil rose 4.14%, rising for two consecutive weeks, and Brent oil rose 6.60%, reversing the three-week losing streak; in July US oil fell 6.75%, Brent oil fell 4.18%, both in a row It fell for two straight months after six months.

As the US dollar weakened, metals continued to rise last week. A variety of industrial metals such as London copper hit a one-month high. $Gold - main 2212(GCmain)$ and $Silver - main 2209(SImain)$ rose more slowly than Thursday and continued to rise last week, but failed to recover the losses in the first half of the month and finally continued in July.

U.S. gasoline and natural gas futures were broadly higher. NYMEX August gasoline futures rose 8.24% last week, rising for two consecutive weeks, and fell 4.4% in July, falling for two consecutive months; NYMEX August natural gas futures fell 0.84% last week, ending the two-week continuous upward trend, which has accumulated in July It rose 51.71%, the largest monthly increase since September 2009, second only to the record high of 63% in September 2009.

The week ahead: August 1-5

In the coming week, 148 companies in the S&P 500 will report. Reports come from various corporate groups such as healthcare companies $Eli Lilly and(LLY)$ , $Gilead Sciences(GILD)$ and $Amgen(AMGN)$ . In addition, travel-related companies such as $Uber(UBER)$ and $Booking Holdings(BKNG)$ will also report.

A monthly U.S. labor market update due out on Friday will show whether June’s strong jobs growth extended into July. In June, the economy generated 372,000 new jobs—exceeding most economists’ forecasts—while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% for the fourth month in a row.

Monday

• Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index
• Construction spending, U.S. Census Bureau

Tuesday

• No major reports scheduled

Wednesday

• ADP National Employment Report, ADP
• Factory orders, U.S. Census Bureau
• Institute for Supply Management’s nonmanufacturing index

Thursday

• Weekly unemployment claims, U.S. Department of Labor
• Trade balance, U.S. Census Bureau

Friday

• Jobs and unemployment, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Consumer credit, U.S. Federal Reserve