Stocks on Wall Street ended Friday’s session in the red, after President Donald Trump nominated former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chairman. Dramatic declines in gold and silver prices have also kept markets on edge.
Source: Investing.com
Despite Friday’s weakness, the major averages recorded a positive month. The 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average and the benchmark S&P 500 index posted gains of 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, for January, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite posted a 1% gain. The small-cap Russell 2000 jumped more than 4% for the month.
More volatility could be expected in the coming days as investors assess the economic outlook, inflation, interest rates and corporate earnings.
The biggest on the economic calendar will be Friday’s U.S. jobs report for January, which is expected to show the economy added 67,000 jobs. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.4%. Ahead of the jobs report, the ISM manufacturing and services PMIs will also be closely watched.
Source: Investing.com
Several important results reports are also expected. These include the names of the “Magnificent Seven” and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), as well as AI powerhouses Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD). Other notable names include Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pepsico, Walt Disney, PayPal, Uber, Reddit, Roblox, Snap, Qualcomm and Super Micro Computer.
Meanwhile, the federal government began a new lockdown on Saturday, but it is expected to end on Monday.
Regardless of which direction the market is heading, below I highlight one stock likely to be in demand and one that could see further decline. Remember though that my deadline is just for the coming week, from Monday February 2 to Friday February 6.
Stocks to Buy: Alphabet
Alphabet enters its quarterly report with expectations for better-than-expected earnings and revenue growth, supported by two powerful drivers: renewed strength in its advertising business and accelerating contributions from AI in search, YouTube and Google Cloud.
The company’s fourth quarter…
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