The Buzz on Business for February 29th, 2024

Stocks were down, but not by much. Decliners led advancers, but not by much. Volume was about the same as yesterday. Nobody wants to take a position, and nobody wants to be wrong when there’s an inflation report on the horizon. Does anybody want to talk about Bitcoin?

Stock Market Report

Stocks were off substantially at the opening bell but struggled back throughout most of the day to finish with small losses.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off twenty-three points, that’s less than one-tenth of a percent. It closed at 38,949.
• The S&P 500 was down two-tenths of a percent and closed at 5070, off 8 points.
• The NASDAQ Composite had a slightly tougher go of things. It was down six-tenths of a percent, that’s eighty-eight points, and closed back below 16,000 at 15,948.
• The small-cap, Russell 2000, was down eight-tenths, 17 points, and it starts the day today at 2038.

Bond Market Report

Interest rates were down across the board, so the bond market seems to be predicting a non-catastrophic inflation report this morning.

• The yield on the 2-year treasury was off six basis points, and it closed at 4.642%.
• The 20-year was off two ticks, and it closed at 4.541%.

Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin

• Oil was up for most of the day but finished with a small loss. It was down $0.22, and a barrel will now set you back $78.24.
• Gold was off $1.40 and closed to $2042.70.
• The chart of Bitcoin is just stupid. It closed at 4:00 on Wednesday afternoon at $60,439.59, up $3742.74, or almost 7%. Bitcoin is up 44% year-to-date after selling off nearly 10 percent in the first couple of weeks of January.

GDP Disappoints, Salesforce Meets Expectations, Paramount is Mixed

The Commerce Department reported the Gross Domestic Product figures for the fourth quarter of 2023 yesterday morning, and they came in slightly below expectations. Economists expected the economy to grow at a 3.3% annual rate in the fourth quarter. We got a 3.2% annual rate instead. That contrasts with the 4.9% rate in the third quarter of 2023.

Seven companies reported earnings on Wednesday, two red numbers on the giant quote machine here at World Headquarters.

Salesforce, a member of the Dow Jones Industrials, hit their marks, but their forward guidance disappointed. The stock sold off just a bit in the after-hours market.

Yesterday, we talked about Paramount Global, the former CBS Viacom, which reported after the bell, and it exceeded expectations for earnings by a fairly wide margin. The Street was expecting the company to lose a penny a share. Instead, it made $0.04, but it missed the mark on the top line. The stock was down during the regular session but recovered after hours.

Labor Market and Inflation Data Due

It’s Thursday, so we must be getting initial and continuing jobless claims, but the big story is inflation. We get all the PCE numbers later this morning. The Personal Consumption Expenditure Index is the Fed’s favorite inflation indicator and is closely watched.

Recall that in the last two weeks or so, both the Consumer and Producer Price Indexes have come in well above expectations, which spooked the market. Economists are expecting the PCE to come in at 0.3% for January. That’s a 2.4% annual rate. The core number, which is even more closely watched, is expected at 0.4%, or a 2.8% annual rate.

Clearly the market is on edge and watching these numbers carefully. Likewise, everyone here at the Ministry of Truth will be huddled around the telescreens at 8:30 am ET, and we will have all of the numbers and what it all means for you tomorrow. All you have to do is keep it right here on The Buzz.