February 19: Market Summary
U.S. stocks move lower; Treasury yields climb to the highest levels in a year
Here are today’s market moves:
S&P 500 down 0.19% to 3,906.71
Dow Jones up 0.0031% to 31,494.32
Nasdaq up 0.066% to 13,874.46
Gold: $1,783
Bitcoin: $55,175
US10Y: 1.341%
What Happened?
U.S. stocks wavered today, with major indexes ending the day relatively flat. The Russell 2000 ended the day up more than 2% as investors bought shares of small companies and sectors of the market like financials and energy.
The S&P 500 fell every day this week after a string of gains last week. The index ended the week down 0.71%
The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note climbed above 1.3% for the first time since February 2020, sparking concerns that some investors are beginning to anticipate a tightening of policy sooner than expected in order to accommodate a possible rise in inflation.
Central banks around the world have cut interest rates to historic lows in an effort to support the economy during the pandemic.
Investors are waiting for more information on Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package. Some analysts are speculating that the size of the package could change based on new economic data that has come in this week.
Bitcoin on Friday hit a market capitalization of $1 trillion.
What Else?
This Week
Monday: Presidents Day – Markets closed.
Tuesday: Earnings expected from CVS, Groupon, and Palantir.
Wednesday: Earnings expected from Shopify and Twilio; U.S. retail sales figures released; FOMC minutes from the January meeting are due.
Thursday: Earnings expected from Dropbox, Nestle, Roku, and Walmart; Weekly jobless claims.
Friday: Earnings expected from John Deere.