Before The Bell
The stock market selloff, which had pushed the major indexes to a loss for January has apparently ended, brought to a conclusion by back-to-back big wins on the first two trading days of February. A quieting down of the frenetic trading in such highly speculative and risky issues as GameStop (GME), Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY), and AMC Entertainment (AMC), which wreaked havoc on the markets last week, clearly helped, as did indications that a needed fiscal stimulus package might be nearing passage, either along a strict party vote or via a bipartisan attempt. Finally, after yesterday's big win, the leading indexes are poised to press higher this morning, in particular the NASDAQ, on upbeat earnings issued after the close from Alphabet (GOOG) and Amazon.com (AMZN).
So, the stock market is looking better. Specifically, the key indexes pushed higher on Monday. Then, they really got going on the upside yesterday, fashioning a second straight wire-to-wire win for the bulls. Looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average, it began the day sharply higher, soaring to a session-best 628-point advance by 11:00 AM (EST) in snowy New York City. The S&P 500 Index added another 70 points and the NASDAQ rose 250 points on tech strength. There also was optimism on the earnings front, but the big story was the settling down of trading activity in risky assets.
Breaking the advance down, all of the major groups were higher on the day, led forward by the financial, consumer discretionary, industrial, and the communication services equities. Even the utilities, often a notable laggard on winning days, rose handily, while real estate and health care, albeit higher, still lagged on the upside. Conversely, amidst these big gainers, bot AMC and GameStop hit the skids, and their dramatic descent helped raise sentiment levels on the exchanges.
In addition to the calmer trading backdrop, the bulls also were emboldened yesterday by optimism that COVID-19 vaccine rollouts was gaining traction. As to earnings, results from such corporate heavyweights as Pfizer (PFE) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) were mixed, with shares of the former losing ground, while the oil giant added a bit on the upside. Also, Treasury notes were lower, applying a boost to yields. Further crude oil prices were gaining yesterday and gold was falling. Overall, it was a good day for most asset groups.
Finally, after a decent, but by no means exceptional, report on manufacturing activity issued on Monday, in which this key sector notched its eight straight month of growth in January, albeit at a lesser rate than in December, the same Institute for Supply Management will issue data later this morning on the services sector via the release of monthly figures on non-manufacturing activity. That issuance will be followed tomorrow by data on weekly jobless claims and figures on non-farm payrolls on Friday. So, it should be an informative week.
– Harvey S. Katz, CFA
At the time of this article's writing, the author had a position in PFE.
