Hey there, readers!
It's been an eventful week in the world of stocks and earnings. Let's dive right in and recap the highlights.
The fourth-quarter earnings season got off to a rough start, but it didn't completely ruin what turned out to be a good week for U.S. stocks. On Friday, the Dow closed down, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 managed to eke out slight gains. However, five out of the eight S&P 500 companies that reported results for the December-ending quarter saw their stocks lose ground.
One of the biggest losers was Delta Air Lines, whose shares plunged nearly 9% after the company lowered its earnings forecast for this year, despite beating projections for the latest quarter. Rising oil prices also didn't help, as U.S. crude prices rose 1% on Friday due to concerns about escalating armed conflict in the Middle East. This had a negative impact on Delta, United, and American Airlines, making them the biggest decliners on the S&P 500 for the day.
Banks also had a rough start to the earnings season. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America all saw their stocks drop following their own results. Citigroup, on the other hand, managed a gain of less than 1% after announcing plans to cut 20,000 jobs. It seems that even the biggest and most diversified banks will have a hard time growing through loan activity this year, as noted by Heard on the Street's Telis Demos.
Despite the mixed results on Friday, the S&P 500 still managed to pick up about 1.8% for the week, recovering from a loss of 1.5% the previous week. The Nasdaq also held onto a 3% weekly gain after a slight dip the week before. So, it seems that 2024 is about back to where it started.
That's all for now, folks! Stay tuned for more updates and let's see what next week brings.
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