Rover's Weekly Market Brief - 04/15/2022

Indices

DJIA: 34,451.20 (-0.78%)

NASDAQ: 13,351.10 (-2.62%)

S&P 500: 4,392.59 (-2.13%)

Commodities

Gold: 1974.90 (+1.51%)

Copper: 472.35 (-0.03%)

Crude Oil: 106.95 (+8.84%)

Introducing Future Simulations

We have written a blog post that describes the new Future Simulations facility in Stock Rover. With this facility, you can test long-term expected portfolio performance and growth under a myriad of scenarios using the Monte Carlo simulation technique. Learn more about this great new feature here.

Economy

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the consumer price index rose 1.2% in March and follows a 0.8% increase in February. The index’s year-over-year rate is up a seasonally adjusted 8.5%, the fastest annual pace since December 1981. Increases were broad-based with the indexes for gasoline (+18.3%), shelter (+0.5%), and food (+1.0%) primary contributors. The gasoline index accounted for over half of the monthly CPI increase. Core CPI, which excludes the more volatile food and energy costs increased a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in March, a decline from February’s 0.5% reading. The shelter index was a primary contributor to the Core CPI monthly increase. Shelter is up 5.0% year over year, the biggest annual increase since May 1991. Also contributing were increases in airline fares (+10.7%), household furnishings and operations (+1.0%), medical care (+0.5%), and motor vehicle insurance (+07%). The index for used cars and trucks dropped (-3.8%). The annual rate of core CPI inflation is 6.4% and is the largest 12-month change since the period ending August 1982.

The US Energy Information Administration reported that US commercial crude oil stockpiles increased by 9.4M barrels to 421.8M barrels (13% above the five-year average) for the week ending April 8th. The increase is due in part to the releases from strategic reserves. Crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.5M barrels per day, a decrease of 424K barrels per day as compared to the previous week’s average. Gasoline inventories decreased by 3.6M barrels (3% below the five-year average), and distillate inventories decreased by 2.9M barrels (17% below the five-year average). Refineries operated at 90.0% of their operable capacity, as gasoline production increased averaging 9.5M barrels per day. Crude oil imports came in at 6.0M barrels per day, a decrease of 305K barrels per day as compared to the previous week. Crude oil imports averaged about 6.3M barrels per day over the last four weeks, 4.9% more than the same period last year. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 7.4M barrels last week.

The Commerce Department reported advance U.S. retail and food services sales increased 0.5% to $665.7B in March, this follows an upwardly revised 0.8% increase for February and a 3.8% jump in January. Data for February was revised up from 0.3%. Retail sales are running 6.9% higher than a year ago. Total sales for January 2022 through March 2022 were up 12.9% year over year. The biggest contributing factor was gas station spending which saw an 8.9% increase. Excluding gasoline, retail sales fell 0.3% in March. General merchandise stores (+5.4%), sporting goods (+3.3%), electronics stores (+3.3%), food (+1.0%), and home furnishings (+0.7%) all saw increases, while spending for motor vehicles (-1.9%) and nonstore retailers (-6.4%) saw declines. When sales for gas stations and autos are excluded, retail sales increased 0.2%. Core retail sales, a measurement that excludes spending on autos, gasoline, building materials, and food services fell 0.1% and follows a downwardly revised 0.9% drop in February.

Tuesday April 19 – Building Permits (March)

Wednesday April 20 – Existing Home Sales (March)

Earnings Calendar:

 

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Bank of America
(BAC)
IBM
(IBM)
Proctor &
Gamble
(PG)
AutoNation
(AN)
American Express
(AXP)
JB Hunt
Transport Servs
(JBHT)
Netflix
(NFLX)
Tesla
(TSLA)
AT&T
(T)
Verizon
Communications
(VZ)






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