Major indices moved lower on Thursday (14 Nov) with losses across the board.We saw S&P 500 went down by 0.60%, NASDAQ declined 0.64% and DJIA dropped 0.47%, while Russell 2000 underperformed with a 1.4% loss.
This sluggish stretch for the U.S. stock market continued after a big post-election rally. The selling was driven by normal consolidation efforts after a significant run in equities following the election. Despite the losses, the Russell 2000 remains 3.4% higher than its close before the election results.
Economic Data On Thursday Morning Fuel Ongoing Profit-Taking Activity
Thursday morning’s economic data like the wholesale prices and jobless claims which came in largely as expected. October Producer Price Index (PPI) indicated rising inflation at the wholesale level, while weekly jobless claims remained below recession-like levels, reflecting ongoing strength in the labor market. This may lead to higher consumer spending, adding more pressure on inflation.
Fed Chair Powell in his first appearance since the central bank cut its benchmark rate last week, commented that the "economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates." These comments led the major indices to hit session lows as market participants recalibrated rate cut expectations.
The fed funds futures market now sees a 60.6% probability of a 25 basis points rate cut at the December FOMC meeting, down from 82.5% on Wednesday (13 Nov_, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Note Yield Saw A Volatile Response
Treasuries experienced a volatile response. The 10-year yield was nearing 4.50% earlier but the yield on 10-year Treasurys, which is sensitive to expectations around where interest rates are headed, slid in the morning before rebounding to 4.444% after Powell's comments.
The yield has been rising in recent weeks as investors have recalibrated their thinking on how aggressive the Fed will be in its moves to cut interest rates in the months ahead, while the 2-year yield settled eleven basis point higher at 4.371%.
S&P 500 Sector Saw Nine Sectors In Declines
The losses on Thursday (14 Nov) were broad-based, with nine of 11 S&P 500 sectors ended with declines. Three sectors (Consumer Discretionary, Health Care and Industrials) ended with more than 1.5% lower than Wednesday (13 Nov).
Energy sector was up slightly with 0.14% helped by APA Corporation (APA) and Chevron Corp (CVX) with 2.63% and 1.94% gains respectively.
Information Technology sector was also up slightly with 0.05% though we saw mega-cap technology stocks were mixed. AI investor favorite Nvidia (NVDA) with 0.33%, Microsoft (MSFT) with 0.40%, and Apple (AAPL) with 1.38% gained ground with while Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (META) retreated.
Review of Today's Economic Data
The jobless claims report give us an idea that suggest with low level of initial claims, employers feel reasonably good about the economic outlook. The PPI report indicates inflation at the wholesale level, raising concerns about PCE inflation sticking at higher levels.
Stocks To Watch
$Walt Disney(DIS)$ among stocks on the move Thursday, has reversed its downward trend by jumping more than 6%, leading Dow gainers, after the entertainment giant reported better-than-expected quarterly results this morning. The entertainment giant's revenue increased by over 6%, with earnings per share surpassing expectations by nearly 3%. Notably, operating income jumped 23% year-over-year, driven by successful film releases like "Inside Out 2" and "Deadpool & Wolverine," which grossed over $1 billion globally. Additionally, Disney+ saw a 4% increase in core subscribers, beating consensus by almost 3 million.
$Amazon.com(AMZN)$ announced its expansion into the telehealth market, introducing pay-per-visit services for conditions such as hair loss and erectile dysfunction. This move led to a 22% drop in shares of Hims & Hers (HIMS, Financial), which operates in the same market. The new service, Amazon One Medical, offers consultations for over 30 conditions, with costs for messaging and video visits set at $29 and $49, respectively.
Though this does not help AMZN to move up higher on Thursday, but we should still see more upside potential coming from AMZN, as the technical does not show any signs of weakness, it is still trading comfortably above the short-term and long-term MA, with MACD also forming bullish upside.
MTF confirmed with a strong uptrend signal, so this make AMZN a long term stocks to have.
I am holding my position on AMZN as I see potential for more growth coming from this stock as they are expanding into a new growth sector, telehealth.
$Palantir Technologies Inc.(PLTR)$ announced its decision to transfer its stock listing to the Nasdaq Global Select Market from the New York Stock Exchange, effective November 26. The company aims to continue trading under the symbol "PLTR," with expectations of leveraging Nasdaq's tech-focused platform for growth.
While this news does not make much movement to PLTR stock movement, but we can see that PLTR is showing some strength from the technical as it is trading comfortably above the short-term and long-term MA with MACD giving a strong bullish upside. MTF is also confirming with a strong uptrend signal.
I am holding my position in PLTR as I believe there is much growth coming for especially AI software platform companies.
Summary
We might see market moving slower again as we expect U.S. retail sales at 8.30am ET, this might have some impact on next week earnings for $Wal-Mart(WMT)$ on Tuesday (19 Nov).
So I would think the sector to watch on Friday could be S&P 500 Consumer Staples.
Appreciate if you could share your thoughts in the comment section whether you think market would continued the sluggish stretch on Friday (15 Nov).
@TigerStars @Daily_Discussion @Tiger_Earnings @TigerWire appreciate if you could feature this article so that fellow tiger would benefit from my investing and trading thoughts.
Disclaimer: The analysis and result presented does not recommend or suggest any investing in the said stock. This is purely for Analysis.
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