Dow Jones futures fell on Sunday night, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) earnings, Apple iPhone 14 Pro production issues and reports on Meta platforms (META) short weekend headline news.
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Even with a solid close on Friday, the stock market rally suffered significant damage last week, with the major indexes falling on hawkish comments from Fed chief Jerome Powell.
The Nasdaq had its worst week since January as megacaps tumbled and cloud software tanked.
An apple (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Google Parent Alphabet (GOOGLE) all lost more than 10% for the week, with parent Facebook Meta platforms (META), Tesla shares and Microsoft shares are not far behind. google stock, meta, Amazon.com (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) all bottomed out in the bear market. Apple stock and Tesla (TSLA) no, but they are close.
Meanwhile, Twilio (TWLO) and Atlassian (TEAM) tumbled on Friday amid disappointing results and guidance, losing more than 40% for the week. Numerous other software names have collapsed, with or without profits.
A market rally trying to fight the Federal Reserve with the big tech sector collapsing? This is a difficult task. So while there are some stocks and sectors showing strength, investors should be extremely cautious in the current environment.
News
Meta Platforms to cut thousands of jobs The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. An announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, the WSJ said. Meta had more than 87,000 employees at the end of September. On Oct. 26, Meta reported a 49% drop in third-quarter EPS and cut guidance amid a splurge in the meta universe. META shares fell 25% the next day, with the stock continuing to fall.
Late last week, new Twitter owner Elon Musk laid off half of the social media giant’s 7,500-person workforce.
Apple said on Sunday that “we now expect lower shipments of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max than we previously expected,” citing Covid restrictions affecting production at an assembly plant in Zhengzhou, China. A Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou is in closed loop production, with workers staying on site. Apple said the 14 Pro and Pro Max remain strong, but shipments will take longer.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced on Saturday the 20% increase in operating profit. The conglomerate suffered a net loss as the ongoing bear market hit investments.
Dow Jones futures today
Dow Jones futures were down 0.6% at fair value. S&P 500 futures sank 0.7 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.9 percent.
Crude oil fell 2%, while natural gas futures jumped 9%.
The dollar, which fell on Friday, rose slightly.
Goldman Sachs now expects S&P 500 earnings to be flat in 2023, down from its previous target of 3%.
Remember this night action in Dow futures and elsewhere does not necessarily become an actual trade in the next regular Stock Exchange session.
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Stock market rallies
The stock market rally started the week on a decent note, but then sold off on Wednesday afternoon on hawkish comments from Fed chief Jerome Powell. The major indexes gave up even more on Thursday. Stocks rose sharply on Friday after a mixed jobs report, but ended up closing solidly higher on the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was still down 1.4% last week Exchange Trading. The S&P 500 index fell 3.3%. The Nasdaq composite fell 5.7 percent, its worst loss since the week ended Jan. 21. The small-cap Russell 2000 fell 2.4%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note jumped 15 basis points to 4.16%. The 10-year yield resumed its advance after snapping a 12-week winning streak and briefly returned to around 4%.
The dollar was up 0.2% for the week but fell 1.9% on Friday, its biggest one-day drop in years. This likely contributed to the stock market rally on Friday.
Markets now see a 61.5% chance of a 50 basis point hike at the Fed’s December meeting. The consumer price index for October is expected on Thursday. The November jobs and CPI reports will be released ahead of the Fed’s rate hike decision on December 14.
U.S. crude futures jumped 5.4 percent last week to $92.61 a barrel. Natural gas rose in price by nearly 13%.
A technical wreck
Apple shares, which rose to their 200-day line, fell 11.15% to 138.38. Shares of AAPL came within a penny of their October lows, though they still have some distance from their June bear market lows. Microsoft fell 6.1%, Google 10.1%, Amazon 12% and META shares 8.5%, all to multi-year lows. Tesla shares fell 9.2%, nearing their low for the day on Oct. 24 on Friday. That’s after TSLA started the week strong, hitting 237.40 intraday on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, dark days are coming for cloud software. Atlassian shares fell 29% on Friday and 38% for the week. Twilio shares tumbled nearly 35% on Friday and 43.5% for the week. Snowflake (SNOW), which won’t report for several weeks, was down 17% for the week.
Meanwhile, Fortinet (FTNT) tumbled 17.5% for the week as weak billings guidance offset strong earnings and a bullish revenue outlook. Paycom (PAYC) fell 10.3% despite solid results and guidance.
Businesses looking to cut costs can curb software spending as they set budgets for 2023.
ETFs
Avg the best ETFsInnovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) fell 1.2% last week, while the Innovator IBD Breakout Opportunities ETF (BOOTH) lost 2%. iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) fell 10.2%, with MSFT shares a key holding. VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) fell just 0.7% after jumping 4.65% on Friday, closing high in the weekly range.
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) rose 2%. Global X US Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVING) decreased by 0.1%. US Global Jets ETF (STREAMS) rose by 0.3%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) fell by 5%. Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) rose 2.4%, just below an eight-year high. The Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF) fell by 0.9%. Select Healthcare Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) gave up 1.5%.
Reflecting the more speculative stocks of history, the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) tumbled 9.4% last week, and the ARK Genomics ETF (ARKG) declined by 4.65%. Tesla stock is a major holding in Ark Invest’s ETF.
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Market Rally Analysis
The stock market rally had a bad week with a dour Fed and often weak earnings weighing on major indexes. The Dow Jones, which led the market’s uptrend, had the weakest decline, but returned below its 200-day moving average. The Russell 2000 hit resistance near the 200-day line, but recovered on Friday to close above the 50-day line. The S&P 500 broke through the 50-day period.
The Nasdaq, which never reached its 50-day moving average, fell the most, closing below the bottom of its following day on Wednesday, a bearish signal.
The major indexes extended losses on Thursday, then rose sharply on Friday on a mixed jobs report.
The negative market action and large reversals in many stocks caused a shift to a “market under pressure”.
The big mover was Fed boss Powell, who pulled the rug out from the market rally by signaling a move to smaller increases but a higher top fed funds rate.
Meanwhile, megacap tech companies, including shares of Apple, Tesla, Amazon and Meta, suffered huge losses. Cloud software names like Atlassian and Twilio have melted away, with recent earnings and guidance being important factors.
Chips haven’t had a terrible week, relatively speaking, but only a few names are trading near highs.
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There are several sustainable market areas. The healthcare sector looks strong overall. Energy names, including a broad range of oil stocks, liquefied natural gas companies and coal mines, plus a few solar stocks, are doing well.
Lithium and some steel games do well. Infrastructure firms in the energy, utilities and telecommunications industries are a bright spot. Network businesses in general are a rare technology field that is leading the way. Some restaurants and discount retailers are showing strength. Various financial companies, especially brokers and brokerages, made big profits.
Still, it’s hard to see a strong rally in the market with so many huge tech sectors reeling. It will be hard enough for the major indexes to advance with Apple, Google, Tesla and cloud software names lagging behind. But trying to progress with those areas going down or crashing?
If the inflation reports show a clear and meaningful decline, spurring a reduction in Fed rate hikes, then perhaps megacaps and cloud software could bottom out. However, a return to technological leadership may be a long way off. On the other hand, if the October CPI report on November 10 shows that inflation is still hot, tech stocks could drag down leading sectors to complete the market’s rally.
Tuesday is election day. The stock market tends to do better with divided government, and Republicans are poised to take back control of the House and perhaps the Senate. But political forecasters have been predicting at least a GOP victory all year, so it’s unclear whether Tuesday’s actual results will be much of a catalyst.
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What should we do now
The stock market rally is under pressure. The Fed is going from fast and furious to slow and long, but it’s still hawkish. The tech sector is a train wreck. The major indexes broke some key levels. Indices and leading stocks are subject to large intraday and intraday fluctuations.
This is not a good environment to buy stocks. Investors should seek to reduce exposure, either explicitly or simply by reducing losses on various positions.
If the market’s rally shows renewed strength, with the S&P 500 and possibly the Nasdaq moving above their 50-day moving averages, investors may start adding exposure. But that will likely require technology to stabilize and inflation data to show some cooling.
If conditions improve, you’ll want to be ready. A number of stocks are in the making, with many more not too far away. So make your watch lists, be patient and stay engaged.
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