The View from 5th Avenue

The summer heat continues to rise here in New York City and so do main US Indexes, with both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closing at another all-time high. There wasn’t much to talk about on the street today as traders prepare for Thursday which will give us June CPI data and kick off an eagerly awaited earnings season. Chairman Powell was on full display this morning while testifying in front of the Senate banking panel. While he refused to comment on future policy decisions or movement, he did give…

As firework celebrations come to a screeching halt with US Independence festivities behind us, it’s back to markets! At a glance, this week has quite a few tidbits we can hang our hats on, starting with the surprise win by the Left in the snap French elections (may cause concern ahead of coalition talks), alongside President Biden squashing rumors earlier this morning of him stepping down as the democratic party candidate. All in all, US markets seemed unphased however with FOMC Chair Jerome Po…

A bit of a head-fake to shake things up this morning as headline NFP came in ahead of expectations (206k versus 190k expected) amid a revision lower for both April and May. Though labor market data isn’t a zero-sum game, it’s worth contextualizing as the two prior months were revised lower by a total of 111k whereas the June data was only 16k ahead of consensus. Additionally, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1% (vs 4.0% expected) and wage inflation down to 3.9%. Despite an initial (and mome…

These mid-week holidays really wreak havoc on volumes—now the second of its type in nearly as many weeks—but does little to dent performance!! US Equities resumed their ascent to close at yet another record-high with the S&P closing above 5500 and NDX breaking the 20k glass despite depressed volumes ahead of a half-day session tomorrow before markets will be closed entirely for the Fourth of July on Thursday and will again reopen for Friday trading. This morning we heard from Fed chairman Pow…

And just like that, we’re on the other side of 2024. The 2nd half of the year began today and it’s sure to bring some fireworks. And sooner than later! We’re referring to the July 4th holiday of course (our English colleagues might suggest they started yesterday w/ that absurd bicycle kick/header finish!! But stop wasting your beer would ya?) but with that comes a 1.5 day midweek break, interrupting any early flow the market was hoping to have for H2. As July 1st comes on a Monday, it feels li…

We started the day on a rather optimistic foot given last night’s discouraging Presidential debate. Indices opened in the green and momentarily climbed on some disinflationary data, but ultimately a hangover from last night’s debate dragged indices lower into the close. Treasuries rallied initially as well, but reversed course after the University of Michigan survey evidenced a stronger than expected consumer. PCE was inline with expectations for May at 2.6% headline and 2.6% for core, decelera…

A mixed bag of data to start the day led to a rather uneventful session. To no surprise, initial jobless and continuing claims remain at the same levels, a slight increase in Core PCE for the Q1 was expected, and personal consumption was lower than expected but not enough to stir up some worrying on the street. Concern does remain around US GDP after positing 1.4% growth for Q1 as the economy flashes signs of a slowdown due to the extended high interest rate environment. A soft landing remains…

With macro developments firmly in the stable bucket, single stocks were the main attraction of today’s session. New Home Sales fell short in the morning half, but last month saw upward revisions which took the sting out of the surprise lower. Thus, center stage featured earnings results as well as eye roll please…megacap tech. Amazon (+4%) hit a record high above $2 trillion, becoming the 5th US company to surpass that level and Apple (+2%) benefitted from a broker upgrade, while Nvidia (+0.25%…

Tech up, market up. Simply put… as NVDA recovered some of its recent days’ losses, Big Tech resumed it lead position and helped to pull the broader market higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led gains followed by the S&P while the DOW and Russell both lagged in the red. Eyes on a “broadening out” remain in focus but will have to wait for another day in the sun as the S&P Equal Weight index also lagged in the red today. Elsewhere, some focus on Treasury bond auctions this week, starting with stron…

Fun Fact: It’s been 2 full years since Nvidia last had three straight 3%+ declines – June 9th, 10th, and 13th of 2022).