Week Ending April 11th, 2024 

Market Moves 

Dow Jones - 40,212.71 (+1.56%)

Nasdaq - 16,724.46 (+2.06%)

S&P 500 - 5,363.36 (+1.81%)

• Trade tensions and a volatile market. Rising and falling trade tensions rattled the stock market again. Despite an up and down week, U.S. indexes recorded big gains. The NASDAQ surged more than 7% for the week, the S&P 500 added almost 6%, and the Dow climbed about 5%.
• Yields took center stage. The yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose from around 4.00% at the close of the previous week to 4.47% on Friday.
• Market volatility surged. A measure of investors’ expectations of short-term U.S. stock market volatility surged on Monday and briefly reached the highest level in five years. The Cboe Volatility Index was still down around 17% for the week.
• A pause on tariffs. President Trump announced a pause on the new tariffs for 90 days to allow negotiations to potentially reduce tariffs and other trade barriers. The White House says Trump is open to China tariff negotiations.
• Gold went higher. Gold saw its fifth week of gains out of the past six and hit above $3,200 an ounce for the first time.
• The government’s Consumer Price Index fell to the lowest level in four years.
• The U.S. Dollar dropped. The DXY dropped roughly 1% to just above 99, the first time since last July that it's been under 100.
• Semiconductor shares went higher. Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices both climbed around 1% ahead of the open on Friday after Reuters reported that U.S. chipmakers that outsource their manufacturing will be exempt from China's retaliatory tariffs.
• Stellantis dropped. The stock fell nearly 3% after the automaker reported a 9% drop in Q1 shipments.
• Bitcoin went higher. The cryptocurrency was up over 3% on Friday and back to above $82,000.
• Possible rate cuts. The CME FedWatch Tool showed a 28% chance of the Fed cutting rates 25 basis points at its early May meeting. 

• Meta (META)
• Nvidia (NVDA)
• Bank of America (BAC)
• JPMorgan (JPM)
• Intel (INTC)

Biggest Gainers

• Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX) – +27.72%
• Certara, Inc. (CERT) – +22.84%
• Zai Lab Limited (ZLAB) – 21.46%
• CRISPR Therapeutics (CRISP) – +14.71%
• Summit Therapeutics (SMMT) – +15.33

Biggest Losers

• MicroAlgo (MLGO) – 11.94%
• Option Care Health (OPCH) – 6.35%
• Saia (SAIA) – 6.00%
• Braze (BRZE) – 4.44%
• RH (RH) – 4.34%

Weekly Notables

Nvidia and Apple Get Relief from Tariffs

President Donald Trump’s administration has exempted smartphones, computers and other electronics from reciprocal tariffs. The exclusions were published late Friday by US Customs and Border Protection. The exclusions apply to smartphones, laptop computers, hard drives and computer processors and memory chips as well as flat-screen displays, which generally are made outside of the U.S. President “This is a large hole in the US tariff wall that will spare key firms like Apple and consumers of laptops and phones from sticker shock,” said Gerard DiPippo, associate director of the Rand China Research Center. “But many other consumer, intermediate, and capital goods from China still face prohibitively high US tariffs. This exemption only covers one segment of the US economy.”

Real I.D. Deadline is in a Few Weeks

The federal government says it will start enforcing Real ID requirements at U.S. airports starting May 7th. Travelers will need a Real ID-compliant license or other accepted form of identification like a passport to get through security before a domestic U.S. flight. “Make your appointments now as quick as possible,” John Essig, the Transportation Security Administration’s federal security director for New York City-area airports, said at a news conference at LaGuardia Airport earlier this month. “We certainly don’t want to hold up anyone without Real ID at the checkpoint,” Essig said

Meta Adds Former Trump Advisor to its Board

Meta, the Facebook parent company, has added a new board member that is Trump-friendly. Dina Powell McCormick, who served as an advisor to the president from 2017 until 2018, is the company’s newest board member. Last month, she and her husband, Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, were seen at a wrestling match with Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Meta is also adding Stripe’s co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison to the board.

The Week Ahead

• Potential market moving catalysts this week: Potential market moving catalysts this week: Monday (4/14): no reports. Tuesday (4/15): Empire State Manufacturing, Export Prices, Import Prices. Wednesday (4/16): Business Inventories, Capacity Utilization, EIA Crude Oil Inventories, Industrial Production, MBA Mortgage Applications Index, NAHB Housing Market Index, Net Long-Term TIC Flows, Retail Sales. Thursday (4/17): Building Permits, Continuing Claims, EIA Natural Gas Inventories, Housing Starts, Initial Claims, Philadelphia Fed Index. Friday (4/18): no reports.
• Earnings on deck this week: Monday (4/14): Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), MT&T Bank Corp. (MTB), Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. (PNFP). Tuesday (4/15): Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Citigroup Inc. (C), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC), Albertsons Companies Inc. (ACI), Interactive Brokers Group Inc. (IBKR), United Airlines Holdings Inc. (UAL), J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT). Wednesday (4/16): ASML Holding NV (ASML), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Prologis Inc. (PLD), US Bancorp (USB), Travelers Companies (TRV), CSX Corp. (CSX), Rexford Industrial Realty Inc. (REXR), Alcoa Corp. (AA). Thursday (4/17): United Health Group Inc. (UNH), American Express Co. (AXP), Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW), Truist Financial Corp. (TFC), DR Horton Inc. (DHI), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), State Street Corp. (STT). Friday (4/18): Comerica Inc. (CMA).