M Notes: Mon, 2-27

LAST WEEK:  

Markets:  A sharply negative week, as inflation proves it’s still sticky.

S&P roller coaster last week:  Holiday, down significantly, down a touch, up, and down. 

Fed Balance Sheet:   $8.382 trillion (down $3 billion).   

Fed Minutes:  Nothing really new.  The Federal Reserve sees inflation weakening, but not enough to stop raising their interest rate.  However, the increases are only 25 basis points now (1/4 point).  

GDP:  In the second read for Q4, growth was revised down from +2.9% to +2.7%.  

Housing:  Existing home sales dropped -0.7% in January and are down -36.9% YOY.  New home sales increased +7.2% in January, but are down -19.4% YOY.  

Inflation:  The Personal Consumption & Expenditures Index (the PCE), the inflation metric the Federal Reserve focuses on, was expected to drop a touch from 5.0% down to 4.9% YOY thru January.  Instead, it rose to 5.4%.  

Jobless claims:  The weekly number came in at 192,000.  The four-week average remains at 191,000.

Radio:  Last week Bill was out of town.  You can normally hear Bill and I discuss Markets most Friday mornings at 6:38am, 7:38am, and 8:38am 1100 AM, WTAM. 

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THIS WEEK:

Focus of the week:  Can Markets bounce back from last week’s negative action?

Earnings:  Some of the companies reporting this week:   Anheuser-Busch, Broadcom, Costco, Lowe’s, Salesforce, and Target. 

Economic calendar:  Durable goods orders (Mon); ISM manufacturing index (Wed); jobless claims (Thu); and the ISM services index (Fri).