Weekly Update – July 25, 2022
The Week on Wall Street
Stocks rallied last week as investor spirits lifted thanks to a better-than-expected start to the second-quarter earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.95%, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 added 2.55%. The Nasdaq Composite index jumped 3.33% for the week. The MSCI EAFE index, which tracks developed overseas stock markets, advanced 3.54%.1,2,3
Earnings Propel Stocks
Earnings season kicked off last week, with major banks reporting second-quarter results. While their results were mixed, they appeared to indicate that consumers and businesses remained reasonably healthy–a perspective that helped erase some negative sentiment overhanging the
market.
As the week progressed, stocks gained momentum as earnings results poured in from different sectors of the economy, showing that businesses were navigating higher inflation and slowing growth better than investors feared. Technology and other gloomier sectors were among the market’s best performers for the week. A few disappointing corporate reports and a weak economic report sent stocks lower to close out a solid week.
Cracks in the Foundation
Data released last week indicated more trouble in the housing market. The latest monthly homebuilder sentiment survey showed the single largest monthly drop in its 37-year history, except for April 2020. The sentiment report preceded a drop in June housing starts and issued building permits. Housing starts declined for the second month, falling 2.0% and
surprising economists who had expected an increase.4,5
Housing weakness made itself known through a 5.4% month-over-month decline in June’s existing home sales, representing the slowest pace since June 2020. Increasing prices and higher mortgage rates demonstrated drags on buyer demand.6
THIS WEEK: KEY ECONOMIC DATA
Tuesday: New Home Sales.
Wednesday: FOMC Announcement. Durable Goods Orders.
Thursday: Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Jobless Claims.
THIS WEEK: COMPANIES REPORTING EARNINGS
Tuesday: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), General Electric Company (GE), Visa, Inc. (V), Alphabet, Inc. (GOOGL), General Motors Company (GM), The Coca Cola Company (KO), McDonald’s Corporation (MCD), Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), 3M Company (MMM), Texas
Instruments, Inc. (TXN), United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS), KimberlyClark Corporation (KMB).
Wednesday: The Boeing Company (BA), Ford Motor Company (F), Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM), Bristol Myers Squibb Company (BMY), Lam Research Corporation (LRCX), Shopify, Inc. (SHOP), ServiceNow, Inc. (NOW), General Dynamics Corporation (GD), Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC).
Thursday: Apple, Inc. (AAPL), Intel Corporation (INTC), Mastercard, Inc. (MA), Pfizer, Inc. (PFE), Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK), The Southern Company (SO), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC), Southwest Airlines (LUV).
Friday: AbbVie, Inc. (ABBV), Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM), Chevron Corporation (CVX), The Procter & Gamble Company (PG), ColgatePalmolive Company (CL).
_________
1. The Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2022
2. The Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2022
3. The Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2022
4. CNBC, July 18, 2022
5. The Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2022
6. CNBC, July 20, 2022