Month: April 2019

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the best performing index this week, gaining 0.56 percent. The Nasdaq climbed 0.19 percent. The S&P 500 Index fell 0.08 percent and the Russell 2000 Index declined 1.20 percent.

Earnings season has been positive thus far. Bank of America (BAC), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Union Pacific (UNP), Honeywell (HON), Pepsi (PEP), International Business Machines (IBM), Netflix (NFLX), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) beat estimates.

Honeywell shares gained 3.78 percent on Friday, propelling several industrial ETFs. SPDR Industrial (XLI) rose 1.15 percent and SPDR Industrial (XLI) gained 1.33 percent.

SPDR Technology (XLK) increased 1.31 percent for the week, while SPDR Consumer Staples (XLP) advanced 1.52 percent. XLP’s gain was due in part due to Pepsi’s strong earnings report, which hit a new all-time high.

Qualcomm (QCOM) and Apple (AAPL) settled their litigation over patent licensing, clearing the way for cooperation on 5G handsets. Qualcomm gained 42.92 percent on the week, Apple 2.48 percent and Intel 4.84 percent. VanEck Semiconductor (SMH) climbed 4.82 percent.

U.S. flash PMIs showed the manufacturing sector is still expanding.  Retail sales jumped 1.6 percent in March and 1.2 percent ex-autos, both numbers were far ahead of forecasts. Weekly jobless claims plummeted to a new 50-year low of 192,000.  The homebuilders’ confidence index increased to 63. Each of these economic indicators are very good for our economy.

The U.S. Dollar Index outperformed major equity indexes, with PowerShares U.S. Dollar Index Bullish (UUP) gaining 0.62 percent.

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM) returned 0.43 percent and iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA) added 0.33 percent.

Markets were relatively calm to start a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 Index slipped 0.06 percent. The Dow Industrials and Nasdaq both fell 0.10 percent and the Russell 2000 Index 0.36 percent.

Economic data was solid with the Empire Index showing a jump in manufacturing activity. The sentiment index for the New York Fed’s region climbed from 3.7 to 10.1 in April.

Industrial production and capacity utilization for March will be released on Tuesday, along with the April homebuilders’ confidence index.

On Thursday, March retail are out, with economists predicting March retail sales to grow at 1.1 percent. Thursday also brings the weekly jobless claims figure, along with flash PMIs for April.

Housing starts and building permits in March round out the week on Friday.

Earnings season heats up this week with 15 percent of the S&P 500 Index reporting. Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS) both announced earnings on Monday. Citi came in at $1.87 per share, ahead of the $1.78 consensus. Goldman beat estimates of $4.74 per share with an announcement of $5.71.  Nevertheless, shares slumped more than 3 percent on weaker revenue. J.B. Hunt (JBHT) missed earning, forcing shares were down approximately 4 percent after hours.

There will be several earnings reports on Tuesday. Before the opening bell UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Bank of America (BAC) will report. JNJ is the largest holding in many healthcare funds; it is 10.73 percent of SPDR Healthcare (XLV).

Netflix (NFLX), International Business Machines (IBM)and CSX Corp (CSX) report after the close on Tuesday.

Morgan Stanley (MS), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Pepsi (PEP) and Abbot Labs (ABT) headline Wednesday’s earnings releases. Thursday will see reports from Union Pacific (UNP), Philip Morris International (PM), Schlumberger (SLB), Honeywell (HON) and Intuitive Surgical (ISRG).