The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added .5% last week to 5,668. While that is not exactly an eye-popping gain, especially considering the declines of late, the positive weekly close for the benchmark stock market average broke a consecutive four-week losing streak. The NASDAQ Composite also broke its 4-week losing streak, rising .2% to 17,784. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the leader of the pack, gaining 1.2% to 41,985.
Wall Street jitters around tariffs eased a bit last week after President Trump said there would be some “flexibility” in their scale and implementation. Factors contributing to the poor stock market performance of late have included the outlook on tariffs, profit-taking after the market hit a record high last month, rotation out of mega-cap technology stocks, concern over the outlook for economic growth, and uncertainty over interest rate policy by the Federal Reserve Bank. Last week, the Fed left rates unchanged but signaled the possibility for two cuts later this year. So a bit of relief regarding tariffs along with hopes for interest rate cuts this year and the stock market broke its losing streak.
For some action in specific stocks last week, shares of Boeing gained altitude after the company won a large contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s next generation fighter jet. Shares of FedEx and Nike both fell sharply after their earnings reports. Economic bellwether FedEx cut its full-year profit forecast, citing weakness in the U.S. industrial economy, and Nike management said sales this quarter would come in below analyst expectations. These reports and negative guidance come just ahead of Earnings Season, which is right around the corner as the calendar flips to April!
According to FactSet: For the first quarter of 2025, the estimated year-over-year earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 is 7.1%. If 7.1% is the actual growth rate for the quarter, it will mark the seventh-straight quarter of year over year earnings growth reported by the index.
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