Stock Market in Review This Week – 11/13/2020

In a never-ending war, Microsoft and Sony released their latest Xbox and PlayStation consoles this week, just in time for the holidays. And a new Call of Duty video game was released as well. It’s every middle schooler’s dream week.

This week the S&P 500 closed at 3,585.15, a gain of 2.16%, the NASDAQ finished at 11,829.29, a loss of 0.55%, and the Dow ended at 29,479.81, a gain of 4.08%.

Summary

The big news of the week, for markets and the whole United States, was that Pfizer and BioNTech’s potential vaccine for COVID-19 was 90% effective. Markets were up big Monday morning on the exciting news but slowly sold off throughout the week as the number of daily cases in the United States hit all-time highs. Pfizer, BioNTech, and industries that would benefit from a reopening of the economy, like airlines and cruises were up, while “stay at home” companies were down from the news. Oil and the energy ETF, XLE, both benefited from the news as well.

Worth Mentioning

• The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is a measure of inflation, was unchanged for October. This is below September’s increase of 0.2%. The past twelve months have seen an increase of 1.2%
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spoke at a European Central Bank forum Thursday. He expressed concern over the longer-run damage to the economy caused by the pandemic
• McDonald’s reported quarterly earnings on Monday, beating EPS and revenue estimates. Net sales and global same-store sales both dropped around 2%, but US same-store sales grew over 4%. Be on the lookout for big changes from them in the future
• Disney reported earnings this week, beating on EPS and revenue. Their streaming service, Disney+, has 73 million paid subscribers. Their parks, experiences and products division has suffered this year as many theme parks have been closed due to the pandemic
• Cisco released earnings, beating expectations. Revenue has fallen for four quarters in a row. The stock was up big Friday
• The recently public Palantir beat revenue estimates, reporting 52% revenue growth. They raised their full-year revenue guidance and announced several new contracts acquired this past quarter. The stock was up Friday from the news
• Target and Ulta Beauty announced a deal to open makeup and skincare shops inside Targets around the country
• Alibaba reported record sales on Singles Day, an annual shopping event in China
• Chipotle is expected to open its first digital-only restaurant as online sales have grown in the pandemic
• Weekly jobless claims totaled 709,000. That is below estimates and the lowest number since before the pandemic started
• On Wednesday, the bond market was closed in observation of Veterans Day. The stock market was open though

Looking Ahead to Next Week

• Several retailers report earnings, most notably Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Kohl’s, Target, TJX, Macy’s, BJ’s Wholesale, and Foot Locker
• Other companies reporting include Palo Alto Networks, Nvidia, and Intuit
• Monthly data for retail sales is released Tuesday morning
• Housing starts and existing home sales data is reported
• Several high-ranking Federal Reserve members will be speaking throughout the week

Weekly Change In Each Sector:

Treasury Yield Rates

The 10-Year ended the week at 0.89%, compared to last week’s end of 0.83%

The 2-Year ended the week at 0.17%, compared to last week’s end of 0.16%