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Market Recap
WEEK OF OCT. 7 THROUGH OCT. 11, 2024
The S&P 500 index rose 1.1% last week, setting fresh record highs, as the Q3 earnings season started on a positive note. The market index closed Friday's session at 5,815.03, a new closing high and its fifth consecutive weekly gain. It is now up 0.9% for the month of October and 22% for the year to date.
The Q3 earnings season began with better-than-expected results from companies including JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC). Investors took this as an encouraging sign for other companies' results in the coming weeks. The big banks are typically a pretty good barometer of the health of publicly traded companies.
The technology sector had the strongest percentage increase of the week, rising 2.5%, followed by a 2.1% climb in industrials and a 1.8% advance in financials. Health care, materials and consumer staples also rose.
Super Micro Computer (SMCI) shares had the largest weekly percentage climb in the technology sector, jumping 16%, as the company said it recently deployed more than 100,000 graphics processing units in one quarter. It also introduced a complete liquid cooling system for data centers.
In the industrial sector, shares of Fastenal (FAST) jumped 9.5% as its Q3 came in ahead of Wall Street estimates despite the industrial and construction supplies distributor facing sluggish demand in its end markets.
On the downside, the utilities sector fell 2.6%, followed by a 1.4% loss in communication services. Consumer discretionary, energy and real estate also declined.
Among the utilities sector's decliners, Vistra (VST) shares shed 9.5% and AES Corp. (AES) shares slid 8.4%.
This week's earnings calendar features a number of heavyweight companies including UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Citigroup (C), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Netflix (NFLX), Morgan Stanley (MS), Procter & Gamble (PG) and American Express (AXP).
The economic calendar includes September import prices, retail sales, industrial production, capacity utilization, housing starts and building permits.
Should be a pretty exciting week for investors and financial markets!
