Last week, we saw the Q4 earnings season kick off, with the most prominent financial institutions in the US reporting their earnings. Good earnings reports, combined with a bit of a sentiment change, led the markets to be mostly green, with the Dow up 0.76%, the S&P up 1.47%, the Nasdaq up 2.15%, and the Russell down 0.1% on a week-over-week basis. However, we’re just getting into earnings season, so we’re nowhere close to being out of the woods yet!
Although we have been doing quite well in terms of inflation metrics, we had a bit of a shock this week, as year-over-year CPI and Core CPI came in a bit higher than expectations. CPI came in at 3.4%, as opposed to an expected 3.2%, and core CPI came in at 3.9%, whereas expectations were at 3.8%. The markets did not react positively to this at first, but they largely made up for their losses and remained flat for the rest of the week.
Although this week is a shortened trading week, we still have some rather important economic data reports coming out. We’ll start things off on Wednesday with retail sales numbers for the month of December, which will be very important to pay attention to. This metric will give us an idea of how much money consumers spent leading up to the holidays. Then, on Thursday and Friday, we’ll get some important housing data in the form of housing starts, building permits, and existing home sales. These metrics will give us an idea of how both the new construction market and the broader real estate market are faring amidst a difficult rate backdrop.
This week, the Q4 earnings season kicks off as some of the most influential companies in the world report their earnings, such as:
01/15 – United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC)
01/16 – Morgan Stanley (MS), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), PNC Financial Services Group (PNC), Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR)
01/17 – Prologis (PLD), The Charles Schwab Corporation (SCHW), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Kinder Morgan (KMI), Discover Financial Services (DFS), Citizens Financial Group (CFG)
01/18 – Truist Financial Corporation (TFC), Fastenal Company (FAST), PPG Industries (PPG), M&T Bank Corporation (MTB), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT), Northern Trust Corporation (NTRS), KeyCorp (KEY), Birkenstock Holding plc (BIRK)
01/9 – ICICI Bank Limited (IBN), Schlumberger N.V. (SLB), The Travelers Companies (TRV), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), State Street Corporation (STT), Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (HBAN)
Again, all eyes will be on the financials this week, as we have some large investment groups like MS, GS, and SCHW reporting their earnings, as well as some smaller banks like PNC, USB, DFS, CFG, TFC, MTB, NTRS, and KEY reporting their earnings. The investment groups will give us a great idea of where they expect markets to go and where they see opportunity, and the smaller banks will give us a great idea of how both consumers and local businesses are faring.
Monitoring the market conditions this week.
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