Last week started with a bang on Wall Street, as stocks looked to recover their previous week’s losses. However, the euphoria didn’t last long. Stocks pared back gains as the week progressed, with continued investor concerns around the slow pace of economic recovery.
Lack of progress in talks of the next round of fiscal stimulus from the US government also dampened market sentiment. Last week, the Federal Reserve announced its first monetary policy decision since Powell outlined the new “average inflation targeting” policy. The Fed kept interest rates unchanged near zero, while indicating that its benchmark rates may not be raised until 2023s.
TikTok remained in focus last week with ByteDance signing a technology partnership deal with Oracle to prevent its video-sharing app from being banned in the US.
Performance of US Indices
US stocks ended lower on Friday, notching losses for the third consecutive week. Although the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index climbed to 78.9 in September, from 74.1 in the previous month, the country’s current account deficit widened significantly to $170 billion in the second quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 244.56 points to close at 27,657.42 on Friday. The 30-stock index slipped less than 0.1% last week, following a 1.7% decline in the prior week. The S&P 500 index lost 0.6% during the week, while the Nasdaq Composite Index suffered a weekly drop of 0.6%. The Dow has lost 2.72% month-to-date, while the Nasdaq Composite has tumbled 8.34% in the same period.
Top US Stocks of the Week
Shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) gained around 6% on Monday after the company announced plans to acquire ARM Holdings from SoftBank in a transaction valued at $40 billion. The stock closed mostly flat last week.
Oracle Corporation’s (NYSE: ORCL) shares climbed more than 4% on Monday after ByteDance chose the company as its technology partner for the US operations of TikTok. The stock added around 5% during the week.
Carnival Corporation’s (NYSE: CCL) shares plummeted around 11% on Tuesday after the company announced a $1 billion common stock offering. The company also projected GAAP net loss of $2.9 billion for the third quarter. The stock lost more than 13% last week.
Shares of Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) surged more than 7% on Tuesday with the company posting a rise in car registrations for August. The electric vehicle maker’s stock surged around 19% last week.
Snowflake Inc’s (NYSE: SNOW) stock jumped over 111% on Wednesday on its first trading day after pricing its IPO at $120 a share.
Shares of FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) jumped around 6% on Wednesday following stronger-than-expected Q1 results. The stock climbed more than 4% during the week.
Herman Miller, Inc’s (NASDAQ: MLHR) shares spiked around 34% on Thursday after the company reported strong Q1 results. The stock gained 52% last week.
Performance of European Indices
European stocks settled lower on Friday as market sentiment took a hit following an increase in covid-19 cases in the continent. Meanwhile, investors cheered positive signs related to Brexit negotiations, with the EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier saying that the deal might still take place.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index closed the week higher by 0.2%, even after declining 0.7% on Friday. The FTSE 100 index slipped 0.7% on Friday, closing the week down by 0.4%. The French CAC 40 shed 1.1%, while the German DAX 30 index lost 0.7% last week.
Top European Stocks of the Week
Shares of Inditex jumped more than 7% after Zara owner swung to a profit in its second quarter.
Fiat Chrysler’s gained around 6% on Tuesday after the carmaker restructured its merger terms with Peugeot maker PSA.
IG Group’s stock climbed over 6% on Thursday after the company posted a surge in Q2 revenues.
Shares of URW plunged around 10% on Thursday after the mall operator announced a €3.5 billion rights issue.
The Forex Market
The euro closed mostly flat versus the US dollar last week as various central banks held monetary policy meetings. Although the US Federal Reserve maintained interest rates, it raised the economic outlook for the country, projecting a 3.7% decline in GDP this year, better than its previous forecast of a 6.5% contraction. The EUR/USD closed the week slightly lower by 0.07%.
The USD/CAD rose during the initial session on Friday, but lost its momentum later in the day. Although Canada’s retail sales grew 0.6% in July, it came in below the consensus view of a 1% gain. The USD/CAD rose by 0.01% on Friday to close the week higher by 0.2%.
The Crypto Market
The crypto market saw some positive momentum last week, with Bitcoin recording gains. Bitcoin closed the week just shy of $11,000, but breached the resistance level over the weekend to climb to $11,110.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.