What started out as a good week finished on a sour note with the markets selling off on Friday and the S&P 500 closing at 6,013. On Monday the markets were closed for Presidents Day. And then came Tuesday and Wednesday with some similarities as the S&P 500 notched two consecutive days of record highs and identical daily gains of 0.24%. On Wednesday afternoon the Fed released its January meeting minutes which showed they agreed that inflation needs to come down more before they cut interest rates again. Piling on at about the same time, top Pentagon brass were told to prepare to cut the U.S. defense budget by 8% each year for the next five years. Both combined to form a bump on the road, starting with Palantir (PLTR), one of the top-performing stocks for the last two years. PLTR closed 2024 at $75.63 and on Wednesday afternoon it hit a new all-time high of $125.41, up nearly 66% Year To Date (YTD). On Friday it closed at $101.35, giving back around half of those gains. Meta also had a tough time, down about 7% on the week and dropping below its 50 day Moving Average (MA). So on Thursday, the S&P 500 then gave back all of Tuesday and Wednesdays gains, and this bleed into Friday when the February University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 64.7, a decline of nearly 10% and a steeper drop than expected. Also, the five-year inflation outlook was 3.5%, the highest since 1995. That said, the S&P 500 closed at session/weekly lows with a daily loss of greater than one percent. From a technical perspective the S&P 500 dropped below its 20 MA on Friday, but did hold just above its 50 MA. Which then brings us to next week, and Mondays open which could be interesting given the shake up in U.S military leadership after Fridays closing bell, and the follow on effect of Fridays sell off. We also get Nvidias earnings on Wednesday, monthly Core Personal Consumer Expenditures (PCE) on Friday, and the end of February numbers. As such theres a lot to digest in the front half of next week. For TSP TIPS we are going into the end of February with one investment mix remaining. As such stand by for a mid-week alert on Wednesday afternoon for a possible reallocation to be executed prior to noon on Friday/end of February. Based on Performance Rankings, the C fund remains at the top of the leaderboard (also two new record highs on Tuesday and Wednesday), while the S and I funds battle for the runner-up spot.
What started out as a good week finished on a sour note with the markets selling off on Friday and the S&P 500 closing at 6,013. On Monday the markets were closed for Presidents Day. And then came Tuesday and Wednesday with some similarities as the S&P 500 notched two consecutive days of record highs and identical daily gains of 0.24%. On Wednesday afternoon the Fed released its January meeting minutes which showed they agreed that inflation needs to come down more before they cut interest rates again. Piling on at about the same time, top Pentagon brass were told to prepare to cut the U.S. defense budget by 8% each year for the next five years. Both combined to form a bump on the road, starting with Palantir (PLTR), one of the top-performing stocks for the last two years. PLTR closed 2024 at $75.63 and on Wednesday afternoon it hit a new all-time high of $125.41, up nearly 66% Year To Date (YTD). On Friday it closed at $101.35, giving back around half of those gains. Meta also had a tough time, down about 7% on the week and dropping below its 50 day Moving Average (MA). So on Thursday, the S&P 500 then gave back all of Tuesday and Wednesdays gains, and this bleed into Friday when the February University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 64.7, a decline of nearly 10% and a steeper drop than expected. Also, the five-year inflation outlook was 3.5%, the highest since 1995. That said, the S&P 500 closed at session/weekly lows with a daily loss of greater than one percent. From a technical perspective the S&P 500 dropped below its 20 MA on Friday, but did hold just above its 50 MA. Which then brings us to next week, and Mondays open which could be interesting given the shake up in U.S military leadership after Fridays closing bell, and the follow on effect of Fridays sell off. We also get Nvidias earnings on Wednesday, monthly Core Personal Consumer Expenditures (PCE) on Friday, and the end of February numbers. As such theres a lot to digest in the front half of next week. For TSP TIPS we are going into the end of February with one investment mix remaining. As such stand by for a mid-week alert on Wednesday afternoon for a possible reallocation to be executed prior to noon on Friday/end of February. Based on Performance Rankings, the C fund remains at the top of the leaderboard (also two new record highs on Tuesday and Wednesday), while the S and I funds battle for the runner-up spot.