The three major stock benchmark indexes finished at their highest levels since November 8, lifted by growing optimism over U.S.-China trade negotiations. The Chinese delegation will stay in Washington an extra two days to continue talks, but the two sides reportedly have reached an unspecified agreement regarding currency manipulation and Chinese is said to have committed to purchase $1.
2T of U.
S.
goods.
The S&P, Dow and Nasdaq ended the week up 0.6%, 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively. At the end of the week, crude oil futures hit fresh three-month highs against the backdrop of improved U.S.-China trade talks and rising equity markets.
Economy
Monday:
U.
S.
markets closed for President’s Day.
Tuesday:
Pressure towards a different Brexit solution boosted the pound as the resignation of seven Labour MPs from the U.
K.’s main opposition party weighed on the influence of Jeremy Corbyn and his Brexit strategy. The faction now sits in the U.
K. Parliament as a new group of MPs, known as “The Independent Group,” after citing concerns with the main opposition’s “Brexit” position, “bullying” and “anti-semitism.”
Wednesday:
Minutes from the Fed’s last meeting reaffirmed the U.
S. central bank would be “patient” with respect to further interest rate hikes. Most FOMC officials also indicated they were ready to stop shrinking the central bank’s $4.1T asset portfolio this year and believed an action plan should be released soon. It was a busy week for central banks, with speeches from Mario Draghi and many U.S. Fed officials.
Thursday:
German manufacturing activity dropped to its lowest level since 2012 in February, with IHS Markit’s PMI slipping to a record low of 47.
6%, leaving the country’s resilient services sector to keep the economy afloat. “The uncertainty relating to U.S.
-China trade tensions and weakness in the autos industry – were highlighted, although there were also reports of growing competitive pressures within Europe,” said Phil Smith, economist at IHS Markit.
Friday:
President Trump held a positive meeting with China’s top trade official, Liu He, with only a week left until the temporary truce between the two nations expires. The latest meeting occurred amid the most significant progress yet toward ending the seven-month U.S.-China trade war, with negotiators drawing up six memorandums of understanding on structural issues: forced technology transfer and cyber theft, intellectual property rights, services, currency, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade.
After the meeting, Trump confirmed reports that he is planning to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida at the end of March.
Stocks
Monday:
U.S. markets closed for President’s Day.
Tuesday:
Retail trends.
.. Payless ShoeSource began closing its 2,700 U.S. stores and filed for its second bankruptcy in two years. The latest retail victim may point to storm clouds hovering over the industry, or possible positive developments for Caleres (NYSE: CAL ) and DSW (NYSE: DSW ) due to a narrowed shoe store field.
Toys “R” Us, Shopko, FullBeauty Brands, Charlotte Russe, Things Remembered and Gymboree ( OTC:GMBEQ ) have all filed for bankruptcy in the past year.
Wednesday:
Lyft is planning the roadshow for its initial public offering for the week of March 18, according to Reuters, making it the first U.S. ride-hailing company to debut in the stock market. Expecting to list its shares on the Nasdaq, LYFT anticipates a valuation of between $20B-$25B. There are also some more big IPOs on the radar, including Uber ( UBER ), Postmates ( POSTM ) and Pinterest ( PINIT ).
Thursday:
Several companies, including Nestle ( OTCPK:NSRGY ), McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD ), Disney (NYSE: DIS ), AT&T (NYSE: T ) and Hasbro, pulled digital advertising spending from YouTube ( GOOG , GOOGL ) over growing concerns that the site has been facilitating paedophile networks.
Users were said to be connecting with each other in the comments section of videos of young children, and sometimes even sharing links to hardcore child pornography. The escalation echoes a similar backlash in 2017, when advertisers pulled their commercials over fears they might be placed next to extremist or inappropriate content.
Friday:
NASA warned SpaceX ( SPACE ) and Boeing (NYSE: BA ) of design and safety concerns for their competing astronaut launch systems that aim to return astronauts to the International Space Station. The clock is ticking. The U.S. has been paying Russia about $80M per ticket for rides on its Soyuz space vehicles, but there are no seats available for American crew after 2019. SpaceX also recorded its second milestone of reusing a single Falcon 9 rocket three times, launching the first privately-funded lunar mission.
Weekly Market Movement Wrap
U.S.
Indices
Dow +0.6% to 26,032. S&P 500 +0.6% to 2,793.
Nasdaq +0.7% to 7,528.
Russell 2000 +1.3% to 1,590. CBOE Volatility Index -9.4% to 13.51.
World Indices
London -0.8% to 7,179. France +1.
2% to 5,216. Germany +1.4% to 11,458. Japan +2.5% to 21,426. China +4.5% to 2,804. Hong Kong +3.
3% to 28,816. India +0.2% to 35,871.
Commodities and Bonds
Crude Oil WTI +2.
7% to $57.09/bbl. Gold +0.7% to $1,330.7/oz. Natural Gas +2.
8% to 2.699.
Ten-Year Treasury Yield +0.1% to 122.13.
Forex and Cryptos
EUR/USD +0.42% .
USD/JPY +0.17% . GBP/USD +1.
26% . Bitcoin +10.2% . Litecoin +13.6% . Ethereum +20.
9% . Ripple +6.9% . Bitcoin-Cash flat .
Top Stock Gainers
Immune Design (NASDAQ: IMDZ ) +305% .
Zosano Pharma (NASDAQ: ZSAN ) +108% .
Achieve Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ACHV ) +96% . Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ: RIOT ) +60% . Kandi Technologies Group (NASDAQ: KNDI ) +58% .
Top Stock Losers
Stamps.com (NASDAQ: STMP ) -58% . Diplomat Pharmacy (NYSE: DPLO ) -57% . Uniti Group (NASDAQ: UNIT ) -54% . Karyopharm Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KPTI ) -45% .
Union Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: LTN ) -42% .
Where will the markets be headed next week? Current trends and ideas? Add your thoughts to the comments section..
