December 4, 2022

The Weekend Rip: December 04, 2022

Believe it or not, we’re already in the year’s final month. 🤯

Let’s recap and prep for the week ahead. 👍

What Happened?

💚 Stocks registered moderate gains this week as the safe-haven U.S. Dollar fell to fresh lows. Investors are watching three charts as we head into year-end.

🤩 This week’s Stocktwits Top 25 report showed moderate outperformance relative to the indexes.

📝 Jerome Powell’s speech a the Brookings Institution hinted at a slower pace of hikes beginning at the December meeting. However, this week’s employment data showed that a strong labor market remains a major headwind in the battle against inflation.

📰 China remains in the news as protests pick up and impact supply chains for Apple and other major companies. Meanwhile, Pinduoduo rallied over 30% after reporting better-than-expected earnings. Late in the week, we saw additional earnings reports and news that the government was beginning to reduce its harsh covid-19 containment measures.

🛢️ The price of crude oil and energy stocks continue to diverge, leaving investors wondering how it will resolve. Meanwhile, the G-7 and European Union have tentatively agreed to a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil. Over the weekend, OPEC+ agreed to stick to its existing policy of reducing oil production ahead of Russia sanctions.

🏘️ The financial sector was shaken late in the week after Blackstone limited withdrawals in one of its largest private real estate funds. Investors remain concerned about real estate values as the economic data shows U.S. housing market conditions continue to soften.

🔥 Several names were on the Stocktwits trending tab for a good portion of the week, including $VRAX, $MMTLP, $MULN, $COSM, $APE, and $AMC.

Here are the closing prices:

S&P 500	4,072	+1.13%
Nasdaq	11,462	+2.09%
Russell 2000	1,893	+1.27%
Dow Jones	34,347	+0.02%

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Bullets

Bullets From The Weekend

⏩ Apple speeds up its efforts to diversify production out of China. As unrest in China continues and disrupts economic activity, the world’s largest company is telling its suppliers to plan more actively for assembling its products elsewhere in Asia, particularly in India and Vietnam. Its reliance on Taiwanese assemblers led by Foxconn, which produces 70% of global iPhone shipments, has left the company in a precarious spot. The uncertainty around what’s happening in China has weighed on Apple and other companies who operate in the area. Barron’s has more.

📝 Delta pilots reach a tentative deal with the airline. Airline unions have been pushing hard for their workers as travel demand remains robust, and contracts have not been negotiated for several years. Delta’s “agreement-in-principle” still needs union approval and ratification by pilots, but it would see pilots receive pay raises of more than 30% over the next four years. The cost to Delta is roughly $7.2 billion over the next four years, with about a quarter of that related to quality-of-life improvements. More from CNBC.

❌ New York Times union threatens journalist walkout. Unions continue to use the tight labor market to advocate for higher wages and better workers’ benefits. Next week, more than 1,000 union employees at the New York Times have pledged to walk out if a fair contract agreement is not reached by Thursday. The NYT NewsGuild is seeking wages that keep up with inflation and enhanced health insurance and retirement benefits promised during the hiring process. The walkout is set to talk place on Thursday, December 8th, and will last for 24 hours. The New York Post has more.

The Brief

Need a concise summary of what’s going on this week? Look no further. Here’s an overview of important earnings and economic data for the trading week ahead.

Economic Calendar

This week, the news is all over the place, but investors will be watching the various inflation data from the U.S. and other major countries like China. In addition to the above, check out this week’s complete list of economic releases.

Earnings This Week

Earnings season is slowing down, with 88 companies reporting this week. Some tickers you may recognize are $GME, $MDB, $SFIX, $AI, $DOCU, $LULU, $CHWY, $COST, $LI, and more.