The Buzz on Business for February 22nd, 2024

It was a fascinating day on Wall Street on Wednesday. A case study in human psychology, a graphic illustration of Greed and Fear, played out minute by minute on the Giant Quote Machine here at World Headquarters. Markets moved mostly sideways on Wednesday but on low volume. No one wanted to take a position one way or the other. Every trader on Wall Street wished they had taken their mother’s advice and majored in accounting.

And then, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time, while the whole world held its breath, NVIDIA announced fourth-quarter earnings.

Stock Market Report

After meandering all day, stocks rallied in the last 20 minutes of the session. We couldn’t help but wonder if the NVIDIA number had been leaked.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 38,612, up 48 points. That’s about one-tenth of a percent.
• The S&P 500 was up an identical one-tenth of a percent and closed at 4,982. That’s a gain of six points.
• The NASDAQ Composite also rallied in the last half hour but from a lower level. It finished off 50 points. A three-tenths of one percent loss for the NASDAQ, and it closed at 15,581.
• The small-cap Russell 2000 lost 11 points. That’s one-half of one percent. It closed at 1998.

Bond Market Report

Rates were up across the board on Wednesday.

• The 2-year treasury was up six basis points and closed at 4.668%.
• The 20-year was up four ticks and closed at 4.607%.

Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin

• Oil was up $0.84; a barrel now changes hands at $77.98.
• Gold was down $5.50 and closed at $2034.30.
• Bitcoin had a small loss. It was off $617.00 and closed at $51,442.59

Financial Animal YouTube Channel is Up!

Finally! We have finally gotten some videos up on YouTube and are very excited. For now, we’re posting YouTube shorts. Just YouTube Shorts, with tidbits of financial planning advice, along with a very brief promotion for this podcast. Soon, though, a video version of this podcast, or at least a part of it, will be posted every day. But in the meantime? We’re promoting this podcast with YouTube shorts. Our YouTube channel is Financial Animal. Check it out. And, you know, like, comment, share, and subscribe. All that stuff!

Obviously, the big story of the day was NVIDIA. The chip maker had another blowout quarter. It scorched expectations on both the top line and the bottom line. But, I think the most interesting fact about NVIDIA is this. One year ago, it announced earnings per share of $0.88. That was against expectations of $0.81, another blowout quarter, one year ago. Yesterday, it announced earnings per share of $5.16, over a 486% year-over-year increase.

The stock had been down about 3% when the market closed Wednesday afternoon. But when the number came out, it went to the moon. In the after-hours session, as we write this, it’s up over 8% and is being actively traded.

I would not be surprised if a sense of relief overcomes Wall Street today, and NVIDIA pulls the market up along with it.

While NVIDIA got all of the attention, twelve other companies reported earnings during the day yesterday. There were a few more red numbers than we’re used to seeing. Five companies missed expectations. We’ll have to check, but earnings season seems to be going pretty well so far.

Economic Data Due Out Today

Today, we get initial and continuing jobless claims, just like we do every Thursday. We also get the balance of the housing complex. Existing home sales will be released later this morning. The Standard and Poor’s Purchasing Managers Index is also due out. It has been creeping up recently, a good sign for the economy. We’ll see how it does today.

Finally, three members of the Federal Reserve Board are giving speeches today. Maybe one will make some news.

To find out, you’ll have to keep it right here.