Stocks Closed Modestly Lower Yesterday, But Small-Caps Finished In The Green
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Stocks closed modestly lower yesterday.
Although, it's worth noting that while the big three indexes (Dow, S&P and Nasdaq) were down, the small-cap Russell 2000 was up 0.61%.
It's also worth noting that cryptocurrencies and crypto related stocks and ETFs put in a strong day as well.
Yesterday's New Home Sales report showed 661K units (annualized) were sold, up from last month's 651K, but under the consensus for 685K.
And the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey showed improvement with the General Activity Index coming in at -11.3, which is much better than last month's -27.4. The Production Index also improved with a reading of 1.0 vs. last month's -15.4.
Today we'll get Durable Goods Orders, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence, and the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index.
But the main event this week will be Thursday's (2/29) Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.
Like the CPI and PPI inflation reports that came out the other week, it's likely to show little change in inflation at best, and possibly a slight uptick at worst.
But all in all, the prevailing trend for inflation is lower. And an uptick here and there does not really change things.
Nonetheless, we'll see what the PCE report says on Thursday.
In the meantime, we'll also get more earnings.
Yesterday we heard from 206 companies. Today we'll hear from 395, with plenty of marquee names like Lowe's, AutoZone, and Bentley Systems reporting before the open, and Alcon, Agilent, and eBay reporting after the close.
Stocks were energized last week after NVIDIA's record earnings, as it showed the AI boom was not likely to end anytime soon.
More good earnings this week could propel stocks even higher.
The big three indexes are currently at or near record highs.
A little bit of good news could send them even higher.
See you tomorrow,
Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research
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