S&P 500 Notches Best Week Since Late January (2 min read)
US stocks rose on Friday amid speculation that the Fed won't raise interest rates beyond the already-priced peak levels. The rally helped snap a three-week losing streak, and the Nasdaq 100 had its best day since early February. While data this week supported the case for the Fed's tightening policy, some investors are betting that the impact of the rate hikes on the economy would be delayed. All eyes will be on the non-farm payrolls report this week for clues on whether the economy can handle more rate hikes.
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Six reasons why Fundstrat is expecting the stock market to rally (3 min read)
Fundstrat's Tom Lee believes that the recent sell-off in the stock market will lead to strong gains in March and April. Lee cites six reasons for this potential upside: improving inflation, Fed's 25-basis-point rate hikes, a bond market rally, falling volatility, a supportive seasonal environment, and reasonable stock market valuations. He expects data for February to show "softer" jobs and inflationary pressures, with the bond market likely to pivot dovish in March. If the seasonals play out as expected, the S&P 500 could rally 7% by the end of April.
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AI stocks surge as investors bet on growth prospects (2 min read)
AI-based product companies saw a surge in shares after C3.ai forecast better-than-expected revenue and profit. C3.ai stock was up more than 33% on Friday, its strongest one-day gain in a month. Other AI stocks also followed the rally, including BigBear.ai, SoundHound AI, and Thailand's Guardforce AI. So far this year, these stocks have surged between 33.9% and 321.6%. The trend is driven by the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which boosted the popularity of AI firms.
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Oil companies hit with backlash after bringing in $200 billion in profits last year (2 min read)
Oil companies enjoyed record profits in 2022 due to skyrocketing oil prices, but faced backlash from consumer advocates and political leaders. The largest integrated European and American oil companies saw revenues nearly double during the year, with profits soaring. However, President Joe Biden accused them of profiting from the conflict in Ukraine, a claim the industry refutes. While oil companies are now enjoying high profits, they are preparing for an expected decline in demand and the possibility of falling oil prices.
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Most Popular ETFs by AUM (6 min read)
The most popular ETFs are generally those with the highest assets under management (AUM). ETFs with high AUM also tend to offer more liquidity, diversification, lower costs, stability, and transparency. Some of the highest AUM ETFs in the current US market include SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), and Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI). This article provides a list of the top 10 ranked by their size and a brief description of each one.
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Ken Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel is up again in 2023 following a record year (2 min read)
Citadel's flagship Wellington fund, managed by billionaire investor Ken Griffin, gained 0.7% last month and has returned 2.8% through February. This matches the market's performance following a record-breaking year in 2022, where the hedge fund soared 38%, outperforming all of its competitors. Their equities and global fixed income funds have also seen positive returns this year. Citadel’s AUM recently surpassed $54 billion as it managed to shine during market turmoil and continued to fare well in making bets around political or economic events.
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That's it for today! You can reply to this email if you have any comments or feedback.
Thanks,
Thomas
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