Noor Trends News, Technical Analysis, Educational Tools and Recommendations
Tuesday saw a decline in US stocks as investors continued to monitor the direction of interest rates following a mediocre start to the earnings season that was marked by significant bank results.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%. Despite briefly entering positive territory during the session, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.3% despite gains from semiconductor companies Nvidia and AMD.
Tuesday saw a rise in Goldman Sachs stock following the bank’s announcement of Q4 earnings that increased 51% year over year. Goldman Sachs reported a 24% decrease in its full-year net income of $8.52 billion for 2023 due to a slowdown in dealmaking in the industry.
Following the announcement of a quarterly profit that was hurt by a $535 million one-time charge, Morgan Stanley’s shares fell more than 3%. The bank’s fourth-quarter income exceeded predictions made by Wall Street.
Ahead of the retail sales report on Wednesday, investors are keeping tabs on every announcement that can have an impact on the Federal Reserve’s data-driven policy decisions. The unexpected decline in US wholesale inflation last week raised expectations for a March interest rate cut.
Fed Governor Chrisopher Waller stated on Tuesday that, provided inflation doesn’t increase or continue to be high, he thinks the Fed will be able to reduce interest rates this year. The timing and rate reductions, he warned, would depend on incoming data.
Waller also noted, “I see no reason to move as quickly or cut as rapidly as in the past,” during a lecture given in Washington, D.C., at the Brookings Institution. His remarks follow recent warnings that it’s premature to declare victory against inflation from top IMF official Raphael Bostic and Atlanta Fed director.
Corporately, Tesla’s stock rebounded from its initial losses on Tuesday following the CEO’s statement that he would rather develop robots and artificial intelligence goods elsewhere unless he had approximately 25% voting control at the EV manufacturer.
