September 9, 2023

The Weekend Rip: September 10, 2023

Sellers returned to the market after a three-day weekend, with the major indexes closing red. 🔻

Let’s recap and prep you for the week ahead. 📝

What Happened?

📉 U.S. stocks continued lower, led by the small-cap Russell 2000. Meanwhile, Apple shares came under pressure as the China vs. U.S. tech war continues.

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

🌝 The original “meme stocks” were back in the news, with AMC, GameStop, and Bed Bath & Beyond all making headlines. And a COVID darling continues to play the same tune, not satisfying investors’ need for a new growth plan.

🥡 Restaurant stocks could be signaling consumer spending weakness, particularly as the labor market softens and student loan repayments restart. And speaking of food and beverage stocks, Pepsi is eyeing beverage growth with a new “Gatorade” water brand.

☕ The community of investors and traders focused on Luckin Coffee had a good week as the company’s new product pushed the stock to new heights.

📰 Several other stocks made headlines, including Block, Rent The Runway, Hooker Furnishings, RH, America’s Car-Mart, and WestRock.

🔥 Several names were on the Stocktwits trending tab for most of the week, including $NVOS, $AI, $TTOO, $HE, $VFS, $AMC, $EZGO, and $GNS.

Here are the closing prices:

S&P 500	4,458	-1.29%
Nasdaq	13,762	-1.93%
Russell 2000	1,852	-3.61%
Dow Jones	34,577	-0.75%

Bullets

Bullets From The Weekend

💵 Goldman Sachs plans to rain $100 million on rural U.S. communities. The investment banking giant is expanding its efforts to bolster small businesses, beginning in North Dakota and Arkansas and reaching 20 states over the next five years. The funds include $75 million for community development financial institutions and $25 million for educational programs at community colleges and capacity-building grants. CEO David Solomon reiterated that small businesses are engines of economic growth, and he’s excited to expand the company’s efforts. Axios has more.

❌ Strikes kick off at Chevron’s Australia LNG projects. The U.S. oil and gas giant began withdrawing contractors from its facilities on Saturday, shortly after staff went on strike at the two major projects. The two sides remain at odds over issues including pay, job security, rosters, and rules around overtime and transfers between Chevron facilities. The outages account for roughly 5% of global LNG supplies, likely impacting gas prices in Asia most. More from Reuters.

🧾 Judge decides Intuit’s ‘free’ TurboTax ads misled consumers. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) chief administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled that Intuit “deceived consumers” and “engaged in deceptive advertising.” The ruling concerns the company’s commercials and other advertisements of its “Free Edition” software, which wasn’t always free. Despite facing backlash and fines, the company’s truly no-cost Free File version, launched in partnership with the IRS, remained exceedingly challenging to find. Consumers continue to look forward to the IRS’s government-backed free filing service, which will begin piloting during the 2024 tax season. The Verge 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

It’s another quiet week of economic data, though investors will be watching the ECB rate decision and U.S. inflation data. In addition to the above, check out this week’s complete list of economic releases.

Earnings This Week

Earnings remain few and far between, with 43 companies reporting this week. Some tickers you may recognize are $ORCL, $ADBE, $CGNT, $LEN, $FCEL, $LPTH, and more.