Jump into today's market analysis with us! Discover the driving forces behind today's market movements, from Apple's impressive surge and indices recovery to adjustments in oil demand, along with insights on upcoming quarterly earnings and more.
Nasdaq Recovered Losses Driven by Big Tech Stock Apple
The stock market stopped its losses yesterday, especially the Nasdaq index, which gained 1%, driven by the mega-capitalized Apple's news.
Analysts at Bank of America upgraded their outlook for Apple's stock, recommending it as a buy. This led to a more than 3% increase in its share price. Given Apple's nearly $3 trillion market capitalization, this significant jump helped the technology index to rebound.
Not only did the Nasdaq index perform well, but the S&P500 and Dow Jones also rose to a lesser extent than the technology index.
Apple daily chart, January 18, 2024. Source: CAPEX.com WebTrader.
Interest Rate Talks are Cooling Off
The interest rate market remained more stable yesterday with a slight rise in 10-year bond yields, despite Fed official Bostic stating that he would be willing to lower interest rates before July if there is evidence of a decline in inflation.
US Weekly Jobless Claims Data Down
Weekly jobless claims figures were released yesterday and fell by 16,000 to a seasonally adjusted 187,000 for the week ending January 13th, the lowest level since September 2022. Another piece of data indicating the strength of the labor market but had no impact on the market, probably because on the other hand, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's manufacturing index remained in contraction territory in January, which is not a clear support for the state of the US manufacturing industry.
Investors Gear Up for Big Quarterly Earnings Next Week
Investors are eagerly awaiting the publication of the earnings of the big technology companies that will begin next week with Microsoft, Tesla or Netflix, among others. After Apple's strong performance on the day, expectations have improved significantly.
Upcoming Earnings Watch:
- Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Tuesday, 23rd
- Procter & Gamble (PG) - Tuesday, 23rd
- Visa (V) - Thursday, 25th
- Microsoft (MSFT) - Tuesday, 30th
- Google (GOOG) - Tuesday, 30th
- Mastercard (MA) - Wednesday, 31st
2024 IEA Oil Demand Estimates are Increased
In the energy market, it is worth noting that the IEA revised its oil demand growth forecast for 2024. The global Oil demand growth forecast for 2024 estimates that it will increase by 180K bpd to 1.24M bpd. However, it warns that strong production growth by non-OPEC+ countries could generate a substantial surplus if OPEC+ production cut agreements are eliminated or not met.
This forecast, along with the weekly oil inventory figure that indicated a decrease of 2.4 million barrels - a larger reduction than expected - led to a slight increase in crude oil prices. Consequently, WTI crude oil experienced a rise of about $1.
Key Takeaways
- Bank of America analysts upgraded Apple’s stock to a buy recommendation, creating a 3% surge.
- In turn, Apple’s boost was enough to recover the Nasdaq index.
- US Jobless Claims data reached an all-new low since September 2022.
- Investors are eager for the upcoming quarterly earnings to be released next week for some big market cap companies.
- IEA 2024 Oil demand is adjusted, showing signs of significantly more demand.
Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters
