Broker Check


THIS WEEK'S UPDATE

| February 09, 2022

THE WEEK ON WALL STREET

Stocks managed to gain ground last week as investors turned their focus

to corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.05%, while the

Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 1.55%. The Nasdaq Composite index picked up 2.38%

for the week. The MSCI EAFE index, which tracks developed overseas stock

markets, tacked on 2.73%.


EARNINGS IN FOCUS

At the start of the week, stocks extended the previous week’s rally with some high-

growth companies leading the move higher. Strong company profits fueled the

market the middle of the week, until an earnings disappointment from a mega-cap

company took investors by surprise. The earnings miss deflated sentiment as it

heightened worries of what it may portend for other technology companies yet to

report. These anxieties led to a sell-off that reverberated across the market.

Subsequent earnings beats from several technology and social media names, and an

above-consensus rise in new payrolls on Friday, helped the market close with week

with a solid gain.

OMICRON AND UNEMPLOYMENT

A string of employment reports pointed to a generally healthy labor market, despite

the Omicron surge late last year. The Job Openings and Turnover Survey (JOLTS)

showed a hiring slowdown, with near-record high job openings and worker

resignations. The ADP (Automated Data Processing) employment report saw

private payrolls shrink by 301,000. That was the first monthly decline since

December 2020. More encouragingly, initial jobless claims declined, while

continuing jobless claims reached their lowest level since 1973. A strong January

employment report showed 467,000 jobs added during the month, with upward

revisions to previously released November and December.


THE WEEK AHEAD: KEY ECONOMIC DATA

Thursday: Consumer Price Index (CPI). Jobless Claims.
Friday: Consumer Sentiment.

THE WEEK AHEAD: NOTABLE COMPANIES REPORTING EARNINGS

Monday: Amgen, Inc. (AMGN).
Tuesday: Pfizer, Inc.(PFE), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG), Sysco Corporation

(SYY).

Wednesday: CVS Health Corporation (CVS), The Walt Disney Company (DIS),

Twilio, Inc. (TWLO), Yum Brands, Inc. (YUM), O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (ORLY).

Thursday: Twitter, Inc. (TWTR), The CocaCola Company (KO), Illumina, Inc.

(ILMN), Duke Energy Corporation (DUK), PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP), Kellogg Company

(K), Expedia Group, Inc. (EXPE).

Friday: Dominion Energy, Inc. (D).


FINAL THOUGHTS

The market has seen a lot of volatility since the beginning of the year. A lot of bad

news has been priced in and the market became pretty oversold. Maybe more bad

news than we will actually see in the near term. We could see a bounce in February

as the market catches its breath, provided we continue to see good earnings reports

from corporate America. So far, about half of the S&P 500 has reported earnings

with 88% beating earnings expectations. That doesn’t sound like an economy that

is ready to die. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed.


Have a good week!