Market related news for the week ending February 5, 2021

• Day traders drove the price of silver to an 8-year high Monday. 
• A report from the Wall Street Journal over the weekend revealed Exxon and Chevron CEO’s spoke in 2020 about combining the two oil giants. Discussions were said to be preliminary and not ongoing, but could come back in the future.
• Tuesday Amazon released results after the bell announcing record revenues of more than $125 billion for the fourth quarter, an increase of 44% year-on-year. In addition CEO Jeff Bezos said he would step down later in the year but would move to the role of executive chair. Bezos will be replaced by Andy Jassy, the head of the company’s cloud services division. 
• Tuesday Alphabet earnings pushed the stock up 7% after hours on the back of better-than-expected ad spend. Operating income from the company’s cloud business was broken out for the first time revealing a loss that showed the business is still in the investment stage. 
• Friday the S&P 500 rallied to a new historic high. Notable risers were Activision Blizzard up over 10%, Wynn Resorts up 7.4%, Estee Lauder up 7.3% and Freeport- McMoRan up 6.6%.
• Friday the Senate passed a budget resolution without Republican support in relation to the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. A separate voting process will be required to implement the relief package however the Senate will be able to move on Biden’s stimulus with a simple majority rather than the 60-vote threshold required for most legislation. A final agreement is hoped for by March 14 when the $300 weekly unemployment supplement expires.
• With a little over half of S&P 500 companies reporting as of Friday, 81% of companies have reported actual EPS above analyst EPS estimates compared to the 5-year average of 74% according to FactSet.  In aggregate, earnings are 15.2% above estimates compared to the 5-year average of 6.3%. Technology and Communications sectors continue to lead the way with over 90% of companies beating estimates. 

Economic news for the week ending February 5, 2021

• Monday: Manufacturing PMI for January was 59.2.
• Monday: ISM Manufacturing PMI for January came in at 58.7, lower than expected.
• Wednesday: ADP Non-farm Employment Change for January rose by 174,000, far higher than expected.
• Wednesday: Markit Composite PMI for January was 58.7. 
• Wednesday: Services PMI for January came in at 58.3, higher than expected.
• Wednesday: ISM Non-manufacturing PMI for January was 58.7, higher than expected, and higher than the prior reading of 57.7. The employment component rose 6.5 points into an expansionary level of 55.2 and new orders were up 3.2 points.
• Thursday Initial Jobless Claims were 779,000, lower than expected and a 2-month low. Continuing Claims fell to 4.6 million, a drop of 193,000.
• Thursday: Factory Orders for December grew 1.1%, much higher than expected.
• Friday: Non-Farm Payrolls for January were 49,000, close to estimates. The unemployment rate fell from 6.75 to 6.3% as 406,000 workers exited the workforce, dropping the participation rate to 61.4%. December’s non-farm payrolls were revised down to -227,000 from -140,000.

Economic events for the week ending February 12, 2021

(all times listed are Eastern)

• Tuesday: NFIB Small Business Optimism for January at 6.00am.
• Tuesday: JOLTs Job Openings for December at 10.00am.
• Thursday: Initial Jobless Claims at 8.30am.
• Wednesday: CPI for January at 8.30am.
• Friday: Michigan Consumer Sentiment for February at 10.00am.