Weekly Market Insights – Monday, April 24, 2023

Stocks Show Small Losses After Mixed Week:

Stocks remained resilient last week amid mixed earnings reports, hawkish Fed-speak, and lingering recession fears, closing out the five trading days with small losses.

Over the last month, The Dow Jones Industrial Average returned 5.31%, while the S&P 500 returned 4.46%. The Nasdaq Composite Index returned 1.75%.

Source: Charles Schwab & Co, Inc.

Stocks Hold Firm

Stocks traded most of last week around the flatline as investors grappled with several headwinds.
The first was disappointing earnings results, coupled with the absence of earnings guidance from some companies due to an uncertain economic climate. Weak economic data, including declines in housing and leading economic indicators, also weighed on investor sentiment. Finally, multiple Fed officials spoke last week, signaling that inflation remained too high and that further rate hikes may be likely.
Underneath the seemingly placid surface of the major market indices, there was substantial price action at the individual stock and sector level. Poor earnings results hit communication services stocks and regional banks, while margin pressures put pressure on auto stock valuations.

Housing Weakness

Two housing reports reflected ongoing fragility in the housing market and fed prevailing economic slowdown worries.
Sales of new homes fell 0.8% in March, dragged down by a 5.2% slide in new multi-family home construction. Sales of single-family homes were a bright spot, rising 2.7% to a three-month high, though that hopeful note was tempered by an 8.8% drop in new application permits–an indicator of future new home building.1
Existing home sales also suffered a month-over-month decline in March, falling 2.4%. Sales plummeted 22% from March 2022 levels as higher mortgage rates and tight inventories impacted affordability.2

This Week: Key Economic Data

Source: Bloomberg Finance L.P.

This Week: Companies Reporting Earnings

Source: EarningsWhispers

At Concord Asset Management, we design portfolios for the long run, with the ability to navigate various market cycles. However, you can have confidence that we are monitoring these market-moving events, and we will make reasonable, tactical adjustments as necessary.

Author

Gary Aiken
Chief Investment Officer
Concord Asset Management

Footnotes and Sources

1Yahoo Finance, April 18, 2023
2CNBC, April 20, 2023

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