• Two weeks of gains locked in. While the major indexes closed in the red on Friday, they still climbed for the second week in a row with a rally on Thursday that pushed the S&P 500 to above a record high. Both the Dow and the NASDAQ closed the week with gains if about 2% but were roughly 1% below their records they set in December.
• Japan saw a rate hike. Yields of Japanese government bonds rose on Friday following news that the nation’s central bank lifted interest rates to the highest level since 2008. The increase in the short-term policy rate went from 0.25% to 0.50%.
• Survey showed consumer concerns in the U.S. For the first time in six months, U.S. consumer sentiment weakened to 71.1 according to Friday’s reading from a University of Michigan survey. The index dropped 2.9 points (-3.9%) from December's final reading to 74.0 and is down 10.0% compared to one year ago. The latest reading was lower than the 73.2 forecast.
• A second batch of earnings results came in. As of Friday, fourth-quarter net income was expected to rise by 12.7% compared with the year-ago quarter, based on S&P 500 companies that have already reported plus projections for those that haven’t yet released results. This outcome would mean the highest quarterly earnings growth rate in three years, according to FactSet.
• U.S. crude oil fell. The price of U.S. crude oil fell more than 3%, breaking a streak of four weeks of gains. On Friday afternoon, oil was trading around $74 per barrel, down from a recent high of more than $80 per barrel on January 15. Year to date through Friday, oil was up about 5%.
• Home sales dropped. The National Association of Realtors on Friday reported that existing home sales fell to the lowest full-year level since 1995. 2024 saw a total of 4.06 million home sales which was down less than 1% from 2023’s total.  
• Eyes are on the Fed again this week. It’s anticipated that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged when it finishes a two-day meeting on Wednesday. The Fed cut rates a full percentage point in its final three policy meetings of 2024.
• U.S. Q4 GDP to release on Thursday. The expected release of the U.S. government’s initial estimate of fourth-quarter GDP is expected to show that the economy remained on a solid growth track. The pending result will follow the 3.1% annual growth rate that the economy posted in last year’s third quarter and a 2.0% figure in the second quarter.
• Bitcoin hit above $109,000. Following acting Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mark Uyeda’s launch of a crypto task force on Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order promoting the advancement of cryptocurrencies in the U.S.
• AI was big news on Trump move. President Trump delivered multiple "pro-growth" initiatives, including a potential $500B artificial intelligence infrastructure investment called "Stargate AI," led by OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank.
• Meta to also expand in AI. Meta Platforms announced that it plans to spend as much as $65B this year to expand AI infrastructure.

• TeraWulf (WULF)
• Intel (INTC)
• B2Gold Corp. (BTG)
• Nvidia (NVDA)
• Rigetti Computing (RGTI)

Biggest Gainers

• Fast Finance Pay Corp. (FFPP) +3,900%
• Twilio (TWLO) +20.13%
• The Middleby Corp. (MIDD) +16.53%
• Super Group (SGHC) +16.01%
• Dana Inc. (DAN) +14.89%

Biggest Losers

• FTAI Aviation (FTAI) -10.36%
• CF Industries Holding (CF) -7.50%
• Texas Instruments, Inc. (TXN) -7.52%
• Moog Inc. (MOG-A) -7.22%
• Telafonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (ERIC) -14.38%

Weekly Notables

Boeing Expects $4B Loss in Q4

Boeing outlined expected results and charges across its business in preliminary fourth-quarter results. The company expects to take a $1.1 billion charge on its 777X and 767 programs because of the strike and labor agreement. Boeing has not posted an annual profit since 2018.

Alphabet Shares Closed Above $200 for the First Time

Alphabet shares closed above $200 for the first time on Friday. The stock gained 1.1% on Friday and a little more than 2% for the week to close at $200.21. It is up almost 6% in 2025. Alphabet’s fresh record is on a split-adjusted basis. The company implemented a 20-for-1 stock split in 2022. At the time of that announcement, the stock was trading at about $2,750, equivalent to $137.50 after the split.

 The Week Ahead

• Potential market moving catalysts this week: On Monday investors can expect new home sales from the U.S. Census Bureau. On Tuesday the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price NSA Index will be out, as well as the Consumer Confidence Index and Durable goods data. Wednesday will conclude the U.S. Federal Reserve Board two-day policy meeting and Chair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference. On Thursday the Fourth Quarter GDP advance estimate will be out from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Pending home sales from the National Association of Realtors and weekly unemployment claims will be out from the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday as well. Friday investors can wait for the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index.
• Earnings on deck this week: AT&T (T), SoFi Technologies (SOFI), Bank of Hawaii Corp. (BOH), Brown and Brown (BRO), Boeing Co. (BA), Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL), General Motors (GM), Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB), Chubb (CB), Starbucks (SBUX), T-Mobile Us (TMUS), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), MasterCard (MA), Blackstone (BX), United Parcel Service (UPS), Caterpillar (CAT), Visa (V), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), AbbVie (ABBV), Chevron (CVX), Novartis AG (NVS), and Colgate-Palmolive (CL).