The Buzz on Business for February 8th, 2024

A mile wide and an inch deep. That's what support for this market looks like—feels like—to us. The major indexes gapped up at the open on Wednesday, rallied throughout the day, and closed at or near new highs. But volume was just so, so, and declining stocks outpaced advancers.

Or maybe I'm just a worrier. Yeah. That’s probably it.

Stock Market Report

Mostly green numbers on the Giant Quote Machine on Wednesday, but it didn’t feel like a green number kind of day here at World Headquarters.

• The Dow Jones Industrials were up a respectable 156 points. That's four-tenths of a percent, and they closed at 38,677.
• The S&P 500 was up 41 points. That's eight-tenths of a percent. And they closed within striking distance of 5000 at 4995.
• The NASDAQ Composite was up a stout 1%, that's 156 points, and it closed at 15,757.
• The Russell 2000, on the other hand, was off. The small caps closed down four-tenths of a percent. That's seven points, and begin the day today at 1,948.
• The RSP was up four-tenths. The SOXL was up 4 ½% on the session.

Bond Market Report

Interest rates fell at the open but rallied back throughout the day to finish higher on the day.

• The yield on the two-year treasury was up three basis points, and it closed at 4.431%.
• The 20-year was up two ticks and closed at 4.420%.

Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin

• Oil had a small gain. It was up 61 cents, and a barrel now changes hands at $74.01
• Gold had a small loss. It was off $1.30 and closed it 2050.
• Bitcoin had a pretty good day. It was up 2.6%, that's $1,128.00, and closed at $44,194.

Earnings Season Is Looking Good

Twenty-seven companies announced fourth-quarter earnings during the day on Wednesday. Only three Red Numbers.

Walt Disney announced earnings after the bell and it exceeded expectations. The company earned $1.22 a share. Wall Street was expecting just $1.00. It missed on revenue, however. The stock is trading up in the overnight session but nothing too exciting. We'll see how it does during the day today.

Speaking of today, thirty more companies report earnings today. We will have to look to see how earnings season is shaping up. Versus expectations, it seems to be going well, but year over year and quarter over quarter, given all the lowered expectations in the fourth quarter, we will have to check.

Initial and continuing jobless claims are released at 8:30 am ET this morning. The labor market has confounded this market. It's been strong, and that’s good news, but that strength might also be the reason the Fed has thus far maintained its higher for longer policy.