PUT IN WORK (11/20/2023)

After our trip out of state, we're finally back with another issue and ready to get right into it. The market has had what some would call a stellar performance over the last few weeks, rising at least one percent on a week-to-week basis. Last week saw the S&P 500 (SPY) climb even higher with 2.3% gains, while the Nasdaq (QQQ) performed equally impressively, up 2.4% over the last week. Both these indices are now sitting at definitive levels, ones they'd previously fallen away from in late July and early September.

We have an exciting week on the horizon, with Thanksgiving this Thursday and black Friday following immediately after. Despite the incoming holiday, several companies are set to report earnings. In prior weeks, we saw good earnings from a variety of companies: Target (TGT), Home Depot (HD), Uber (UBER), and Roblox (RBLX), to name a few. This week, we will see companies such as Zoom (ZM), Lowes (LOW), and Nvidia (NVDA) reporting. Speaking of Nvidia, it's no secret that the stock has been soaring sky-high for months now, meaning investor and analyst expectations are very high.

The stock previously took off thanks to what people call the AI boom of the last couple of years. The question is: can the company keep up with those expectations that have been placed upon them? Only time will tell, but if there were ever a time for them to meet those expectations, the months leading up to the year's biggest holiday would certainly be it. Essentially, the possibility is there, but with the bar set so high, we're interested to see if they can pull it off or if they'll come short, potentially resulting in a buying opportunity for investors who previously may have missed the hype train.

In other news, recent consumer price index data aided the market's upward move, with numbers coming in below expected at 3.2% for all items. This information gave investors short-term confidence, allowing the market to push higher. Currently, over 50% of investors believe that the Fed will begin cutting rates as early as May 2024, but of course, we'll have to wait and see for ourselves. The rest of 2023 is shaping up to be interesting, with decent arguments to be made for either direction the market could move in.

(12-month percentage change of the Consumer Price Index, October 2023. Information provided by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, chart provided by bls.gov.)

PORTFOLIO UPDATE

The stock market has been treating our stocks very kindly as of late, along with other stocks apart of the Russell 2000. We're very grateful to see this, and we hope to see it continue throughout the rest of the year. Our stocks are significantly up due to their volatility. We plan to hold all currently owned stocks into the foreseeable future. As always, thank you for reading, and happy investing.