Year to date (YTD) (a)
S&P 500 +6.54%
NASDAQ +11.96%
Dow 30 +2.18%
Sector Performance – 3 Month (b)
Communication Services +17.73%
Information Technology +15.91%
Consumer Discretionary +12.33%
Real Estate +11.90%
Materials +8.05%
Financials +7.86%
Industrials +7.01%
Utilities +3.11%
Consumer Staples +1.89%
Energy +1.83%
Health Care +0.81%
Treasury Yield (10 years) (a)
3.70%
(An uptrend has taken place for the 10 year treasury index (TNX) the past two weeks. This increase in interest rates could have an impact on the overall market rally. Companies who rely more on debt/loans or have less consistent revenue streams tend to be hit harder by the increase in interest rates.)
US National Debt (c)
$31,552,540,000,000
Other News
All eyes will be on the Consumer Price Index Report for the month of January tomorrow. U.S. consumer prices are expected to increase 0.5% (-0.1% prior) month over month in January, but to have come down to 6.2% year over year from 6.5%. (d)
Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, spoke at the Economic Club of Washington DC last Tuesday. In his speech he indicated that inflation is cooling and we have begun to see disinflation in the goods sector. He did acknowledge that it will still take time to bring down inflation to the Federal Reserves target rate. (e)
The US trade deficit surged to a record high of $950 billion in 2022 according to data released by the Commerce Department last Tuesday. This is an increase from the $845 billion in 2021. This enormous record deficit appears as the US and congress struggle to find a solution to raising the current national debt ceiling. (f)
The powerhouses of the market continue to outperform for 2023. Currently Year-to-date (YTD) Microsoft +13.40, Apple +17.54%, Tesla +58.25%, Amazon +17.57%, Alphabet (Google) +6.54%. As we have discussed in previous posts, these 5 companies hold significant weight of the total US indexes. With that being said, it is not surprising to see the positivity throughout the rest of the market. (Measuring the Market)
To conclude…
The markets continue to hold a bullish trend. However, it is always important to be aware that many catalysts can impact the direction of the market at any given time. That is why as an investor you should always have an investment plan in place for your specific short and long term time horizon.
(a) Yahoo Finance
(b) Fidelity Research
(c) US Debt Clock
(d) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
(e) CNBC Economy
(f) Reuters
