The S&P 500 (SP500) on Friday rebounded from its worst week of the year to post its best week of the year. It was also the first time since June 2022 that the benchmark index fell at least 4% in one week and then rallied more than 4% the next.
Last week’s selloff had been driven by concerns over economic growth after a slew of soft data on the labor market, and historical September weakness. This week the narrative reversed after traders received inflation data that cemented expectations of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next Wednesday. The only question now is, how much will be the size of the cut?
Wall Street this week also saw the second U.S. presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump. The candidates sparred over various topics, and the consensus later was that Harris won the debate.
For the week, the S&P (SP500) surged +4.0%, while the Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) jumped +6.0%. The blue-chip Dow (DJI) climbed +2.6%. Read a preview of next week’s major events in Seeking Alpha’s Catalyst Watch.
Apple (AAPL) faced a significant legal setback after losing an EU court battle over €13B ($14.4B) in back taxes. The decision brought an end to a long-standing dispute concerning the tech giant’s tax arrangements in Ireland and marked a win for the EU in its ongoing campaign against preferential tax deals granted by individual nations. Elsewhere, Apple unveiled several new products, including the AI-packed iPhone 16 on Monday, but it did little to excite investors as shares ended the session unchanged. SA analysts discussed whether the event supercharged Apple’s platform strategy, or if it was lacking growth catalysts. (106 comments)
In a win for Wall Street banks, the largest lenders will only face a 9% hike in capital requirements under a revised Basel III endgame proposal unveiled on Tuesday, which was well below the 19% increase floated in the original plan. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said the updated deal would bring the benefits and costs of the hike “into better balance.” Shares of too-big-to-fail banks still fell, led by JPMorgan (JPM), after its president Daniel Pinto warned that earnings expectations were too high. Ally Financial (ALLY) also plunged 18% after flagging worsening credit conditions among borrowers. (42 comments)
Traders on Wednesday strengthened bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a quarter point next week instead of a jumbo 50 bps move. While the headline CPI figure was in line with expectations, core inflation data came in slightly hotter than expected. Markets initially fell on the news, but ended the volatile session higher, which “appeared to be in response to the market favoring the prospect of a rate cut at all,” according to SA Investing Group Leader Daniel Jones. In more central bank news, the ECB trimmed rates for the second time this year, beating the Fed to the party. (20 comments)
The first-ever private spacewalk was conducted on Thursday by civilian astronauts Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, two members of the SpaceX (SPACE) Polaris Dawn mission. Since the Crew Dragon spacecraft had no airlock, the only way to conduct a spacewalk was to let all the air out of the spacecraft and open the front hatch, requiring all four astronauts aboard to don spacesuits. The key objective of the extravehicular activity – made possible by new handrails named Skywalker – was to test SpaceX’s new suits, which were developed in-house to prepare for further missions to the final frontier. (13 comments)
The next challenge surfaced for American planemaker Boeing (BA), whose biggest labor union voted overwhelmingly to walk off the assembly line. A strike shut down production of its best-selling jets, including the 737, 777 and 767, posing the first big test for Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the yoke last month to steer the company towards better brighter skies. The planemaker’s reputation has suffered in recent years amid questions over safety and lack of accountability, and any extended work stoppage will weigh on the financials of Boeing and the jetliner industry. (40 comments)