QVMM - The S&P 500 Loses Its Silvery Luster
2023-09-11 15:06:00 ET
Summary
- The S&P 500 index declined by 1.3% during the trading week ending on Friday, 8 September 2023, closing out the Labor Day-holiday shortened week at 4457.49.
- The biggest trouble for the S&P 500 came on Wednesday, 6 September, when news came China's leaders would order Chinese government agencies to stop using iPhones.
- Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is the biggest single component of the S&P 500 index, so a bad day for Apple's stock automatically weights the index down.
- Apple's stock price dropped by 6% by the end of the week, accounting for about a third of the index's overall decline by itself.
The silver lining investors found in the S&P 500 (Index: SPX ) in the previous trading week lost some of its luster. The index declined by 1.3% during the trading week ending on Friday, 8 September 2023, closing out the Labor Day holiday-shortened week at 4457.49 .
Most of that decline took place during the first two trading days of the week, as oil prices rose and signs of bigger trouble developed in both China and the eurozone. But the biggest trouble for the S&P 500 came on Wednesday, 6 September, when news came China's leaders would order Chinese government agencies to stop using iPhones. Apple ( AAPL ) is the biggest single component of the S&P 500 index, so a bad day for Apple's stock automatically weights the index down. Apple's stock price dropped by 6% by the end of the week, accounting for about a third of the index's overall decline by itself.
For the entire index, the week's decline puts its trajectory close to the middle of the latest redzone forecast range on the latest update to the alternative futures chart.
Other stuff also happened during the past week, which probably accounts for the rest of the S&P 500's downward movement. Here's our summary of the week's market-moving headlines.
Tuesday, 5 September 2023
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Fed officials, excited to sit on hands rather than raise rates again, claim increasing use of the emergency lending facility isn't because of emergency:
- Bigger trouble developing in China:
- Bigger bailout developing in China:
- BOJ officials, getting mixed economic signals, won't give up never-ending stimulus just yet:
- ECB officials getting results they wanted from rate hikes, thinking about more:
- Nasdaq, S&P, Dow end slightly lower to kick off first full week of September
Wednesday, 6 September 2023
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Fed officials claim they will remain calm, analysts see risk of policy error:
- Bigger trouble developing in China:
- ECB officials say they don't know what they're doing, but are thinking about it:
- Wall St slides as economic data stokes inflation and interest rate worries
Thursday, 7 September 2023
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Fed officials suggest they might be done with rate hikes:
- Bigger stimulus developing in China:
- Bigger trouble developing in China as trade data shows economy still slowing, but more slowly:
- BOJ officials want to keep never-ending stimulus alive:
- Central banks starting to go into reverse on rate hikes:
- Bigger trouble developing in the eurozone:
- Nasdaq, S&P end in the red, with Apple falling more than 6% in two days; Dow bucks trend
Friday, 8 September 2023
- Signs and portents for the U.S. economy:
- Fed officials excited to sit on hands rather than hike rates, thinking about digital currency instead:
- Bigger stimulus developing in China:
- BOJ officials get reasons to keep never-ending stimulus alive
- ECB officials getting results they wanted from rate hikes:
- Nasdaq, S&P, and Dow finished slightly higher to end the holiday-shortened week
The CME Group's FedWatch Tool was comparatively unchanged in the past week. It continues to show no rate hike when the Fed next meets on 19-20 September (2023-Q3). After which, the tool projects the Fed will hold rates steady until 1 May (2024-Q2), which is expected to mark the first of a series of quarter-point rate cuts continuing at six- to twelve-week intervals through the end of 2024.
The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tool held steady in forecasting an annualized real growth rate of +5.6% during 2023-Q3. That's well above the so-called "Blue Chip Consensus" that anticipates real GDP growth during 2023-Q3 somewhere in a range between +1.1% and +3.4%, with a mid-range estimate of about +2.4%.
Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
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The S&P 500 Loses Its Silvery Luster