PUT IN WORK (10/21/2024)

Investors have pushed the stock market to have yet another fantastic week, with indices up across the board—some of which have yet again hit new highs. The S&P 500 (SPY) and the Nasdaq (QQQ) both showed incredible heart last week, with the former ending up 0.8% and the latter ending up a lesser 0.2%. Furthermore, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) hit new all-time highs.

There isn’t a lot to be said about last week’s market performance, but there are still a few things we’d like to cover. Though Monday was a federal holiday, the stock market—unlike the bond market and banks—was open, but earnings were on hold. Chip stocks and AI stocks alike led markets, and the positive performance of cryptocurrency saw related stocks make moves higher. The rest of the week’s performance can be—at least primarily—attributed to earnings and investor momentum. Tuesday actually saw a general market decline in specifically the previously mentioned chip and AI sectors, with larger companies such as Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), Apple (AAPL), and Google (GOOG) seeing mixed performances. Bank earnings were also somewhat mixed despite better-than-expected earnings all around.

Wednesday saw mixed market results yet again, although Nvidia (NVDA) held up AI stocks. Thursday was more of the same, with stocks relatively unchanged by closing time. This could be a product of the early morning rally, in which the aforementioned indices pushed to new all-time highs, which may have pushed investors to slow the market down by the end of the day. Friday saw stocks rise again, finishing the week strong and continuing their impressive six-week winning streak.

Earnings season will continue this week, with more bank stocks in the mix. Other major stocks, such as Verizon (VZ), Tesla (TSLA), Coca-Cola Co. (KO), and Dexcom (DXCM), will also be reporting throughout the week, so be sure to keep an eye out!

(Nasdaq ETF (QQQ) price from October 2023 - 2024 — each candle is 1 week. Chart provided by tradingview.com.)

PORTFOLIO UPDATE

While most of our stocks moved along with the market, some made some huge swings higher, and others made some equally large swings lower. Overall, we’re pretty neutral this week. We plan to hold all currently owned stocks for the foreseeable future. As always, thank you for reading, and happy investing.