😟📉 Markets with Worst Start to Year Since '02
Happy Wednesday all,
It’s the first Hump Days newsletter of 2024! We hope your holiday was an excellent time to regroup, relax, and gear up for the upcoming year!
On the YouTube channel, we’ll return to our regular weekly posting schedule with a video coming out tomorrow on middle-class life in America. It’s a video we’re proud of and put a lot of time into, so keep an eye out for it.
Enjoy this week’s Hump Days!
- Humphrey, Rickie & Tim
👀 Eye-Catching Headlines
🇯🇵 Powerful earthquake hits Japan, causing tsunami and killing 30 (WSJ)
🎓 Harvard president resigns after plagiarism allegations, campus antisemitism backlash (WSJ)
🍎 Apple shares fall 4% after Barclays downgrade (CNBC)
📉 Fed officials in December saw rate cuts likely, but path highly uncertain, minutes show (CNBC)
🏌️♂️ PGA Tour and LIV Golf are working to extend merger deadline into 2024 (CNBC)
🪫 More EVs lose U.S. tax credits included Tesla, Nissan, GM vehicles (Reuters)
The Weekly Brief
1. Stocks, Bonds Drop in Tandem for Worst Start to Year in Decades (Bloomberg)
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF ($SPY) and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF ($TLT) each fell 0.6% on Tuesday.
This marked the first time both ETFs slumped so much to start the year since 2002.
The retreat signaled some hesitation among investors to chase a Q4 rally that boosted both U.S. shares and longer-maturity treasuries by 10%+.
Tech megacaps, major winners in 2023, led Tuesday’s selloff as Apple was downgraded by Barclays, which trimmed its price target.
There are signs that money may be flowing out of recent darling stocks and into cheap-looking stocks.
The Russell 1000 growth index fell 1.5%, while its value counterpart gained 0.4%.
2. Job Openings Nudged Lower in November (CNBC)
Demand for workers fell to its lowest level in more than 2.5 years, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
Employment listings nudged lower to 8.79M, though the rate of vacancies was unchanged at 5.3%.
Hiring also fell by 363k, a 0.2% decline.
The ratio of job openings to available workers fell to 1.4-to-1, down sharply from the 2-to-1 level that had been prevalent in 2022.
According to a strategist at Lazard, today’s data is another signal that the Fed is delivering a soft landing and that it suggests the Fed is unlikely to cut rates as aggressively in 2024.
3. Oil Prices Rise 3% on Middle East Tensions, OPEC Pledge to Support Marker (CNBC)
Oil rose more than 3% on Wednesday as tensions continue to rise in the Middle East.
Houthi militants claimed they targeted the CMA CGA Tage container ship, but the ship did not suffer any incident, according to the company.
This comes after Danish shipping giant Maersk halted routes through the Red Sea due to repeated Houthi attacks on vessels.
OPEC issued a statement pledging to remain united in the group’s efforts to maintain oil market stability going forward.