Report for the 5th week of the year spanning Friday January 27th to Friday February 3rd 2023.
The top performing assets year-to-date (YTD) so far are all cryptocurrencies except Lumber futures. View header image in full screen.
Economic Highlights
Monday Jan 30th
- No notable economic reports
Tuesday Jan 31st
- Employment Cost Index Compensation costs increased at an annualized 1.0% rate for Q4 2022, versus a 1.2% increase for Q3 2022
- S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for November had annualized growth of 6.8% versus 8.7% for October
- Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for January was 44.3 down from 45.1 in December and below expected of 45.1
- Consumer Confidence for December was 107.1 versus November of 109.0 and expected of 108.1
Wednesday Feb 1st
- MBA Mortgage Applications Index for last week decreased by 9.0% compared to the prior week increase of 7.0%
- EIA Crude Oil Inventories increased by 4.14M barrels last week compared to 0.53M the previous week
- ADP Employment Change reports 106k jobs added in January compared to 235k jobs added in December
- Construction Spending for December residential spending was down 0.3% month-over-month, non-residential spending was down 0.5% month-over-month
- ISM Manufacturing Index for January was 47.4% down from 48.4% in December and below expected of 48.0%
- JOLTS Job Openings for December was 11.01M up from 10.44M in November
- FOMC Rate Decision The Fed increased rates by 25 basis points to a new target rate of 4.50-4.75%
Thursday Feb 2nd
- Initial Jobless Claims for last week decreased by 3,000 to 183,000 new claims less than expected of 201,000
- Continuing Jobless Claims decreased by 11,000 to 1.655 million
- EIA Natural Gas Inventories declined last week by 151 bcf the previous week inventories decreased by 91 bcf
- Preliminary Productivity for Q4 increased by 3.0% beating expected 2.5%
- Preliminary Unit Labor Costs rose 1.1% lower than expected of 1.5%
- Factory Orders for December increased 1.8% month-over-month less than expected of 2.2%
Friday Feb 3rd
- Nonfarm Payrolls for January increased 517,000 massively beating the expected 190,000
- Nonfarm Private Payrolls of the 517,000 total new payrolls 443,000 were private sector 74,000 were government
- Unemployment Rate for January was 3.4% beating expected of 3.6%
- Average Hourly Earnings for January increased 0.3% matching expectations
- Average Workweek for January was 34.7 hours beating expected of 34.4 hours
- ISM Non-Manufacturing Index for January increased to 55.2% beating expected of 50.3%
See more Economic News at Briefing.com.
US Stocks
The US stock market was up nicely all week until the Nonfarm Payroll report was released being a significant 172% over expectations crashed the market. This outstanding economic news which would normally be great for stocks was however in todays world a major negative for the market as it likely means inflation will stay high much longer than expected leading to higher and or longer term high interest rates from the Federal Reserve. Major index still landed in the green but well shy of their highs on Thursday.
Energy performed the worst this week falling 5.49% causing the sector to flip red YTD. Communication Services performed the best gaining 5.28% followed by Information Technology and Consumer Discretionary gaining 3.75% and 2.25% respectively.
| Index | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DJIA | 33,926.01 | -52.07 | -0.15% | 33,581.42 | 34,334.70 | 2.35% | ||
| Nasdaq | 12,006.95 | 385.24 | 3.31% | 11,388.54 | 12,269.56 | 14.72% | ||
| S&P 500 | 4,136.48 | 65.92 | 1.62% | 4,015.55 | 4,195.44 | 7.73% | ||
| Wilshire 5000 | 41,385.36 | 747.12 | 1.84% | 40,084.66 | 41,832.32 | 8.70% |
| Sector Index | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communication Services | 192.55 | 9.65 | 5.28% | 179.61 | 196.92 | 20.82% | ||
| Consumer Discretionary | 1,176.67 | 25.86 | 2.25% | 1,131.09 | 1,214.42 | 17.03% | ||
| Consumer Staples | 766.84 | 4.70 | 0.62% | 762.71 | 776.77 | -1.58% | ||
| Energy | 658.95 | -41.63 | -5.94% | 658.95 | 690.59 | -1.99% | ||
| Financials | 608.50 | 5.48 | 0.91% | 599.89 | 609.12 | 6.80% | ||
| Health Care | 1,546.32 | -1.60 | -0.10% | 1,533.57 | 1,560.94 | -2.47% | ||
| Industrials | 870.28 | 14.55 | 1.70% | 847.44 | 874.82 | 4.68% | ||
| Information Technology | 2,475.27 | 89.37 | 3.75% | 2,339.64 | 2,495.25 | 13.95% | ||
| Materials | 525.63 | 0.17 | 0.03% | 521.79 | 536.88 | 7.37% | ||
| Real Estate | 257.51 | 3.81 | 1.50% | 250.56 | 262.86 | 10.82% | ||
| Utilities | 345.05 | -5.22 | -1.49% | 345.05 | 352.35 | -3.75% |
Global Stocks
Stocks around the globe were all up last week except Hong Kong falling 4.53% and China coming in flat.
| Global Index | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK FTSE 100 | 7,901.80 | 136.65 | 1.76% | 7,708.34 | 7,906.58 | 6.04% | ||
| France CAC 40 | 7,233.94 | 136.73 | 1.93% | 7,025.53 | 7,233.94 | 11.74% | ||
| Spain IBEX 35 | 9,225.60 | 165.40 | 1.83% | 8,994.00 | 9,281.40 | 12.11% | ||
| Germany DAX 40 | 15,476.43 | 326.40 | 2.15% | 14,988.98 | 15,520.97 | 11.15% | ||
| India BSE Sensex | 60,841.88 | 1,510.98 | 2.55% | 58,699.20 | 60,905.34 | 0.00% | ||
| China Shanghai Comp | 3,263.41 | -1.40 | -0.04% | 3,235.35 | 3,310.49 | 5.64% | ||
| HK Hang Seng 50 | 21,660.47 | -1,028.43 | -4.53% | 21,459.65 | 22,623.81 | 9.50% | ||
| Japan Nikkei 225 | 27,509.46 | 126.90 | 0.46% | 27,302.22 | 27,612.57 | 5.42% | ||
| Australia ASX 200 | 7,558.10 | 64.30 | 0.86% | 7,463.70 | 7,565.00 | 7.38% |
Currencies
The US Dollar gained globally, no surprise there as the Fed raised rates in the US on Wednesday.
| Currency pair | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD / CAD | 1.3392 | 0.0080 | 0.60% | 1.3263 | 1.3474 | -1.20% | ||
| USD / MXN | 18.9653 | 0.1912 | 1.02% | 18.5082 | 18.9900 | -2.68% | ||
| USD / GBP | 0.8296 | 0.0229 | 2.84% | 0.8053 | 0.8301 | 0.36% | ||
| USD / EUR | 0.9261 | 0.0060 | 0.65% | 0.9062 | 0.9266 | -0.89% | ||
| USD / CNH | 6.7912 | 0.0342 | 0.51% | 6.7056 | 6.8100 | -1.88% | ||
| USD / INR | 82.49 | 0.98 | 1.20% | 81.46 | 82.54 | -0.31% | ||
| USD / HKD | 7.8471 | 0.0175 | 0.22% | 7.8284 | 7.8489 | 0.52% | ||
| USD / JPY | 131.18 | 1.33 | 1.02% | 128.09 | 131.22 | 0.05% | ||
| USD / AUD | 1.4449 | 0.0380 | 2.70% | 1.3968 | 1.4455 | -1.39% |
Commodities
Precious Metals and Energy futures were down this week. Natural Gas continued to decline another 15.41% this week now down over 40% YTD. Lumber prices however continue to edged up a little more this week closing just shy of $500 hitting highs not seen since October.
| Commodity | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1,876.60 | -52.80 | -2.74% | 1,874.50 | 1,975.20 | 2.76% | ||
| Silver | 22.41 | -1.22 | -5.15% | 22.33 | 24.75 | -6.80% | ||
| Copper | 4.0565 | -0.1660 | -3.93% | 4.0305 | 4.2490 | 6.46% | ||
| Crude Oil | 73.39 | -6.29 | -7.89% | 73.10 | 80.49 | -8.56% | ||
| Natural Gas | 2.4100 | -0.4390 | -15.41% | 2.3410 | 2.7800 | -41.28% | ||
| Lumber | 499.80 | 7.30 | 1.48% | 493.20 | 533.70 | 33.74% | ||
| Corn | 6.7750 | -0.0550 | -0.81% | 6.7150 | 6.8850 | -0.15% | ||
| Wheat | 7.5675 | 0.0675 | 0.90% | 7.4200 | 7.7650 | -4.45% | ||
| Soybeans | 15.3200 | 0.2250 | 1.49% | 15.1075 | 15.4375 | 0.52% | ||
| Cattle | 1.6413 | 0.0330 | 2.05% | 1.6095 | 1.6423 | 3.94% | ||
| Lean Hogs | 0.8648 | 0.0002 | 0.03% | 0.8275 | 0.8800 | -1.40% |
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptos continued to gain this week with the total market cap rising 2.49% to 1,083.27 billion. Meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) jumped 8.62% this week jumping back into the top 10 non-stable coin list kicking Avalanche (AVAX) out.
| Rank* | Crypto | Week Close | Week Change | Change % | % of Market** | Low | Week Range | High | YTD Performance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BTC | 23,449.32 | 370.59 | 1.61% | 41.74% | 22,657.58 | 24,167.21 | 41.71% | ||
| 2 | ETH | 1,664.75 | 66.59 | 4.17% | 18.81% | 1,546.66 | 1,704.46 | 39.10% | ||
| 4 | BNB | 332.27 | 24.15 | 7.84% | 4.84% | 303.58 | 334.55 | 34.88% | ||
| 6 | XRP | 0.4122 | -0.0006 | -0.15% | 1.93% | 0.3897 | 0.4204 | 21.27% | ||
| 8 | ADA | 0.4043 | 0.0153 | 3.93% | 1.29% | 0.3686 | 0.4129 | 64.02% | ||
| 9 | DOGE | 0.0930 | 0.0059 | 6.74% | 1.14% | 0.0854 | 0.0973 | 32.29% | ||
| 10 | MATIC | 1.2400 | 0.0800 | 6.90% | 1.00% | 1.0700 | 1.2500 | 63.48% | ||
| 11 | DOT | 7.0100 | 0.4400 | 6.70% | 0.75% | 6.0500 | 7.1100 | 62.65% | ||
| 12 | SOL | 24.68 | 0.27 | 1.11% | 0.85% | 22.64 | 26.65 | 147.79% | ||
| 13 | SHIB | 0.00001273 | 0.00000101 | 8.62% | 0.65% | 0.00001134 | 0.00001291 | 57.41% |
** Represents the % of the total crypto market cap
Other Fascinating Stats
The US National Debt increased .12 billion (Wednesday Jan 25th to Wednesday Feb 1st), to a total debt at $31,454,525,403,853.70 according to the Treasury Department. The National Debt has surpassed congresses approved debt limit of 31.381 trillion for over 2 weeks now. See the Debt to the Penny.
The number of solar Sunspots (magnetic storms on the surface of the sun) decreased significantly this week from 84 to 66. See more about Sunspots and space weather.
6,209 more Bitcoin have been mined during the week, the total supply is now 19,280,707 out of the maximum supply of 21,000,000. The max supply is 91.81% mined.
The Federal Funds Effective Rate was increased by 25 basis points to 4.58% for the week with the target rate now between 4.50% and 4.75%. See more about the Federal Funds Rate.
30 year average mortgage rates in the US have slightly decreased again this week from 6.13% last week to 6.09% this week. Learn more about 30 year mortgage rates.
Average US regular gas prices have increased this week 2.17% from 3.42 a gallon last week to 3.49 a gallon this week. See more about US Regular Gas Prices.