US Stock Market Weekly Review Oct. 12-16

The US stock market closed little changed for the week with Nasdaq composite index outperforming. There has been mixed news and mostly negative ones about reaching a new fiscal stimulus package, and the truth is for now the figure and time of a new stimulus package is uncertain. The big news though was the positive surprise of the retail sales with unexpected gains in September. The labor market continues to struggle, as jobless claims came in higher than expected and job growth is still volatile and weak. The third-quarter earnings season has started and importance should be placed both on the actual figures abut also on guidance and commentary.

Economic News

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) excluding Food & Energy released by the US Department of Labor came in at 1.7%, less than the forecast of 1.8%. The Counting Jobless Claims released by the US Department of Labor came in at 10.018 M better than the 10.7 M estimate, but the Initial Jobless Claims released were 898K worse than the forecast of 825K. The Industrial Production was weak with a figure of -0.6 % versus the estimate of 0.5 %. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index released by the University of Michigan came in at 81.2, beating the estimate of 80.5. Taking into consideration that the retail Sales released by the US Census Bureau figure was 1.9 %, much higher than the estimate of 0.7 %, a strong consumer spending trend is supportive and positive for the economic recovery and growth.

For the week of October 12– October 16, 2020, the major US stock market indexes closed as follows on Friday, October 9, 2020:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: Close 28606.31, +0.07% for the week, +0.24% Year-to-date

• S&P 500 Index: Close 3483.81, +0.19% for the week, +7.83% Year-to-date

• Nasdaq Composite: Close 11671.56, +0.79% for the week, +30.08%, Year-to-date

• Russell 2000: Close 1633.81 , -0.23% for the week, -2.08% Year-to-date

Economic events for the week October 19- October 23, 2020:

Important economic data for the week will the Fed's Chair Powell speech, the Building Permits and Housing Starts, the Jobless Claims, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), and the Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), Markit PMI Composite.

Sources:

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/stocks/us/indexes

https://www.barchart.com

https://www.fxstreet.com/economic-calendar