Laura here, guest blogging the intro! We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend! Our family spent the day putting on our annual Kids vs. Grown Ups baseball game and then spending quality time with friends and family.
My absolute favorite part of day, however, was early Thanksgiving morning I got to teach Gage and JJ my Great Nana's Italian stuffing recipe. It is a recipe that has been passed down 5 generations now (and based on a survey Gage did earlier this month, is almost everyone's favorite dish at Thanksgiving!) Do you have a special Thanksgiving family recipe? I would love for you to reply to this email so I can hear about it, or if you're interested in our recipe, I would love to share it with you!
And now onto the weekly recap:
There was one less trading day this week because of the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday and trading volume was on the lighter side. That didn't alter the stock market's prevailing disposition, however. It was another winning week for the major indices, which were supported by some generally broad-based buying interest.
To be fair, the mega-cap stocks led the show again. The Vanguard Mega-Cap Growth ETF (MGK) gained 1.2% this week, yet the Invesco S&P 500 Equal-Weight ETF (RSP) gained 1.0%.
Every S&P 500 sector finished higher. The best-performing sectors were the health care (+2.2%), consumer staples (+1.4%), and communication services (+1.3%) sectors. The relative laggards were the energy (+0.3%), utilities (+0.6%), and information technology (+0.6%) sectors.
NVIDIA (NVDA) was a key story stock during the week. The AI chip giant reported its quarterly results after the close on Tuesday. They were blowout results yet again, but there was some chatter about investors being disappointed that the company lacked visibility into how the export curbs to China will ultimately impact its sales in coming quarters. On Thursday,Reutersreported that NVIDIA is going to be delaying its China AI chip.
In its defense, NVIDIA was ripe for a pullback on just about any news. It had rallied 25% from its October 26 low going into its report. One could also make a case, then, that its soft finish to the week might have been a case of selling on the news more than genuine disappointment about its sales visibility in China, especially since the company also said the affected sales from U.S. export curbs are being more than offset by growth in other regions.
Tellingly, NVIDIA's soft finish did not derail the broader market on Wednesday or Thursday. There was continued resilience to the idea that the stock market is overbought and due for a pullback. That resilience continued to feed a fear of missing out on further gains that propped up the indices along with the continued belief that the Fed is done raising rates.
That belief drowned out a view in the FOMC Minutes for the October 31-November 1 meeting that suggested the Fed would raise rates again if it felt that was necessary. That wasn't anything the market hadn't heard already, so it was more of a headline talking point for the market than a market mover.
There was a batch of earnings results out of the retail space this week that moved plenty of individual stocks, including Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), Nordstrom (JWN), Best Buy (BBY), Kohl's (KSS), Lowe's (LOW), Burlington Stores (BURL), and American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) to name a few. Collectively, the results were digested in a mostly positive manner. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) gained 1.0% for the week.
The economic data this week had some mixed hues. Specifically, existing homes sales in October transpired at the slowest annual pace (3.79 million) since August 2010 while initial jobless claims for the week ending November 18 decreased by 24,000 to a surprisingly low 209,000.
For the week, the 2-yr note yield increased five basis points to 4.95% and the 10-yr note yield increased three basis points to 4.47%
Next week will feature an important slate of economic data that includes October New Home Sales, November Consumer Confidence, the second estimate for Q3 GDP, October Personal Income and Spending, which will include the PCE Price Indexes, Initial Jobless Claims, and the November ISM Manufacturing Index.
In turn, the earnings calendar will feature some high-profile earnings reporters, namely Zscaler (ZS), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Intuit (INTU), NetApp (NTAP), Workday (WDAY), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Foot Locker (FL), Five Below (FIVE), Okta (OKTA), PVH (PVH), Salesforce (CRM), and Snowflake (SNOW).
| INDEX | STARTED WEEK | ENDED WEEK | CHANGE | % CHANGE | YTD % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DJIA | 34947.28 | 35390.15 | 442.87 | 1.3 | 6.8 |
| Nasdaq | 14125.48 | 14250.85 | 125.37 | 0.9 | 36.2 |
| S&P 500 | 4514.02 | 4559.34 | 45.32 | 1.0 | 18.7 |
| Russell 2000 | 1797.77 | 1807.50 | 9.73 | 0.5 | 2.6 |
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The data provided is for informational purposes only and is not an endorsement of any security, mutual fund, sector, or index. The information contained here is not guaranteed as to accuracy or completeness. All economic and performance information is historical and does not guarantee future results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index comprising 30 widely traded blue chip U.S. common stocks. The NASDAQ Composite Index is a market-value-weighted index of all common stocks listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The S&P 500 Index tracks the performance of 500 of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. The MSCI Europe, Australasia, and Far East (EAFE) Index tracks the performance of publicly traded large- and mid-cap stocks of companies in those regions. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) shows the market’s expectation of 30-day volatility and is constructed using the implied volatilities of a wide range of S&P 500 Index options. Weekly and year-to-date figures for the VIX show percentage changes, not investment returns. The Russell 2000 Index tracks the performance of approximately 2,000 publicly traded small-cap companies in the United States. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.
The Treasury yield curve is derived from available U.S. Treasury securities trading in the market and is provided directly by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The spread measures the difference in yield between two government securities. A normal (positive) yield curve occurs when longer-term rates are higher than shorter-term rates. The opposite holds true for an inverted yield curve. Year-to-date changes in U.S. Treasury bond yields are shown in basis points (bps). One hundred basis points equals one percent.
Oil prices are represented by West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil.
The G20 countries comprise a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, representing about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, and over 75% of global trade.