PUT IN WORK (3/11/2024)

We’re finally back with another update on the market! We’ve been gone lately, with vacations and national holidays, hence the long break since our last post, but we assure you that we’ve been keeping an eye on the market and its recent performance.

Starting as we always do, the market has had an exciting last few weeks. Focusing on just last week, however, the S&P 500 (SPY) fell a measly 0.2% while the Nasdaq (QQQ) dropped a significantly greater 1.5%. In the weeks leading up, however, stocks rose overall.

Investors’ most recent interest came from Friday’s job report. Despite the stock market’s heavy downward movement last Friday, the February job report exceeded analysts’ estimates. Although the unemployment rate hit 3.9%, approximately 275,000 jobs were added. Analysts admittedly expected unemployment to come in a bit lower—at 3.7%—but they were also looking for about 198,000 new jobs, a significantly smaller number than what the economy got. Tomorrow’s inflation report is what investors are looking to now. The CPI is forecast to rise by 0.4% for February after an increase of 0.3% in January. Although inflation is still high, the hope and expectation is that the “underlying trend is not strengthening,” according to Wells Fargo economists.

Many expect that February’s presumed increase in inflation will result from a jump in gas prices. On the bright side, according to Friday’s jobs report, the Fed will likely begin interest rate cuts sometime in 2024, which isn’t necessarily news, but it’s nice to hear nonetheless. Jerome Powell claimed that inflation is “not far” from where they’d like it to start cutting. Inflation is pushing lower, but they’re still not quite where they’d like to begin cutting. However, we’re certainly on the correct track. Since 2022, when inflation peaked at over 9%, it’s steadily been on the decline and headed toward the Fed’s 2% goal—all they need is a bit more confirmation before they go forward with their long-term plan.

In other news, earnings season is still in full effect, though most big-name companies whose earnings majorly affect market movement have had their turn. This week will see companies such as Oracle (ORCL), Workhorse (WKHS), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Adobe (ADBE), Rigetti (RGTI), and many others reporting. We’re interested to see how the market continues to perform, and we’re hopeful for our future.

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

PORTFOLIO UPDATE

Our stocks have been mixed, but several, such as SoundHound (SOUN) and Bandwidth (BAND), have seen gains of over 50% and 100%, respectively. We’re very confident in our portfolio’s future and hope to see the momentum of small stocks carry on throughout the year, especially once rates are cut. We plan to hold all currently owned positions for the foreseeable future. As always, thank you for reading, and happy investing.