2024-02-08 09:00:00 ET
Summary
- Big tech earnings and the Fed meeting dominated the headlines, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finishing the week up.
- META was the winner this earnings season, with shares climbing 19.2% after a strong quarter.
- NYCB cut its dividend by over 70%, highlighting the importance of diversification in the Dividend Harvesting Portfolio.
This was a wild week as big tech earnings and the Fed meeting dominated the headlines. The S&P 500 closed the week out up 1.31%, while the Nasdaq finished up 0.93%. Meta Platforms (META) was the winner this earnings season as shares climbed 19.2% this week after delivering a blowout quarter, implementing a dividend , and authorizing an additional $50 billion toward buybacks. Jerome Powell delivered remarks at the 1/31/24 Fed press conference that were more dovish than I expected but more hawkish than many wanted. I have been indicating that nobody is listening to Jerome Powell, and the market is getting ahead of itself, pricing 150 bps of cuts for 2024. We have a strong economy where GDP grew 3.3% in Q4 2023, and the U.S. added 353,000 jobs in January 2024. The Fed has been walking a fine line, and based on the data, there is little reason to believe the Fed will cut rates in Q1 of 2024. Jerome Powell took as much of a victory lap as he could without committing to anything. The Fed still expects to cut rates in 2024, but not on the market terms. I think the more likely scenario is that the first cut occurs in May or June unless something significantly changes in the data. I will be looking at quality REITs and some other areas over the next several months because I think there is going to be an opportunity to load up on specific assets before cuts occur....
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Dividend Harvesting Portfolio Week 153: $15,300 Allocated, $1,349.21 In Projected Dividends