M Notes: Mon, 5-18
| Week Close: 4-15-26 | + (-) | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 49,526 | -83 | -0.2% |
| S&P | 7,408 | +9 | +0.1% |
| Nasdaq | 26,225 | -22 | -0.1% |
| R2000 | 2,793 | -68 | -2.4% |
| 10-year | 4.60 | +0.24 | +5.5% |
| Oil | 105.42 | +10.00 | +10.5% |
LAST WEEK:
Markets: They took a breathe last week.
S&P roller coaster last week: Up, Down, Up, Up a lot, and Down significantly.
Fed Balance Sheet: $6.729 Trillion. Up $19 Billion last week.
Fed Chair: In a 55-45 Senate vote, Kevin Warsh was confirmed last Wednesday as the next Fed Chair. Jerome Powell will remain as the acting leader of the Fed until Warsh is sworn in.
Housing: Existing Home Sales were up +0.2% in April, and were unchanged Y/Y. Two weeks ago, New Home Sales were up +7.45% in March, and were up +3.3% Y/Y.
Industrial Production: It increased +0.7% in April.
Inflation: Consumer Inflation (the CPI) went up +0.6% in April, and was +3.8% Y/Y. Wholesale Inflation (the PPI) went up +1.4% in April, and was +6.0% Y/Y.
Metals: Gold finished the week at $4,544. Silver finished the week at $77.
National Debt: $39.257 Trillion.
Retail Sales: As expected, April’s Retail Sales were up +0.5%. They were up +4.9% Y/Y.
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THIS WEEK:
Focus of the week: The Fed Minutes. The Minutes from the FOMC’s latest meeting three weeks ago get released on Wednesday afternoon. With the new Fed Chair coming in, we’ll be dissecting those Minutes to see how divided the Fed is.
Calendar: Housing Starts (Tue); and the Fed Minutes (Wed).
Earnings: some of the companies reporting this week: Applied Materials, Capital One, Chevron, Hilton, Marathon Petroleum, Marriott, Microsoft, Shell, Sherin Williams, Southern Company, UPS, and 3M.
* The Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be representative of the stock market in general. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted index of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. The NASDAQ Composite Index is an unmanaged, market-weighted index of all over-the-counter common stocks traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System. Yahoo! Finance, the Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily and Barron’s are several of the sources used for financial information.
* The National Debt figure comes from usdebtclock.org.
* Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance. Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision. You cannot invest directly in an index. Past performance does not guarantee future results. No strategy can assure a profit or protect against a loss. Investments in the securities markets involve risk, such as loss of your principal.