PUT IN WORK (10/16/2023)

Last week saw investors fight to maintain the support they’d reached in the week prior, with the market seeing some success. The S&P 500 (SPY) ended up 0.44%, while the Nasdaq (QQQ) ended up 0.14%. These next couple of weeks are a little packed with information.

Last week saw several central banks report earnings, including Citi (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC). Said earnings surprised investors to a degree, with each company beating estimates, leading to each stock rising several percent throughout the week. This week will see earnings continue as we slowly approach the heart of earnings season. This week will also see many more companies report, starting with banks yet again. Later in the week, we’ll see reports from Tesla (TSLA), Netflix (NFLX), AT&T (T), and even more banks. Keep an eye on some of these, as earnings tend to influence overall market performance.

Additionally, we have several economic reports coming through. Tuesday will see the Census Bureau report retail sales data for September, and the National Association of Home Builders release the Housing Market Index for October. One of the main interests, though, is the upcoming Fed meeting, as has been the case for a long time. The Fed’s next meeting will begin at the end of the month, taking up both October 31st and November 1st. Current investor sentiment is that rates won’t be hiked any further this month, and we tend to agree here! Despite this, it’s more than likely that we’ll see at least one more rate hike by the end of the year, followed by a nondescript extended period of raised rates before cuts begin.

Lastly, the war between Hamas and Israel continues. Naturally, such a global event also continues to affect the market, though investors can’t decide just how much it affects the market in this case. Keep an eye out for any developing news on this event, and continue to pray for all those affected by the ongoing tragedy.

(Nasdaq ETF (QQQ) price from October 2022 - October 2023 — each candle is 1 week. Chart provided by tradingview.com.)

PORTFOLIO UPDATE

Our portfolio saw very little movement last week, with the vast majority of our stocks inching in either direction or staying completely flat. Overall, we saw no change. We still feel confident in our picks and plan to hold all current positions for the foreseeable future. As always, thanks for reading, and happy investing.