The stock market rally came under heavy pressure as the major indexes reversed lower, breaking below key levels. Fed chief Jerome Powell signaled "faster" rate hikes ahead, while SVB Financial crashed and ultimately failed, triggering a bank stock sell-off. Job growth was hot again, but wage growth came in below views while unemployment jumped. Tesla tumbled amid new price cuts and regulatory probes.
Stock Market Suffers Big Losses
The stock market rally moved to uptrend under pressure as the major indexes suffered heavy losses. Treasury yields tumbled on the bank woes. Gold rebounded as the dollar weakened.
Powell Ready For Faster Rate Hikes
For a couple of days midweek, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had Wall Street convinced that a half-point rate hike on March 22 was nearly a done deal. Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that policymakers were "prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes" if the data warrants. He noted "inflationary pressures are running higher than expected," adding that he sees "little sign of disinflation" in prices for core services, which account for half of all spending.
However, odds of a half-point hike at the coming meeting surged above 80%, but fell back to around 50-50 on Friday amid banking concerns.
Powell has been clear that the Fed should err on the side of hiking too much to fight inflation. But that risk is higher amid the SVB Financial collapse.
February Jobs Report Mixed
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 311,000, much higher than expected. But the average hourly wage rose a tame 0.2%, which means the annualized pace of wage growth over the past three months is just 3.6%. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 3.6% from 3.4%. Other indications of softness included a slightly shorter workweek and a narrower breadth of hiring, meaning fewer industries are expanding payrolls. Other data in the past week hinted at a less-robust labor market.
SVB Financial Fails, Slamming Banks
SVB Financial and Silvergate Capital sent shock waves through the banking, venture capital and crypto sectors this week after making distressing financial announcements. The FDIC said Friday that SVB Financial had failed, with regulators shutting down Silicon Valley Bank but protecting insured deposits. Late Wednesday, SVB, which has a lot of links to venture capital and tech startups, sought an emergency capital raise amid balance sheet woes. Shares crashed Thursday, sending the entire banking sector lower, but especially West Coast names. Some banking giants bounced back Friday.
Silvergate Capital announced Wednesday night it will shut down operations and liquidate its subsidiary Silvergate Bank, following a long deterioration in the business amid crypto woes. Last week, Silvergate delayed quarterly earnings results so it could include greater-than-expected losses and allow accountants to review unrecorded adjustments. SI stock plunged, extending a meltdown since late 2021.
Tesla Falls On New Cuts, Probes
Tesla cut U.S. Model S prices by $5,000 and Model X prices by $10,000, a few days after cutting European Model 3 and Y inventory prices by 6%. Those follow sweeping global price cuts in early January. Tesla's China EV registrations picked up for a second straight week, but Q1 local sales are on track to lag Q4's pace. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this week also announced an investigation into Tesla Model Y vehicles after reports that steering wheels can come off, due to a missing bolt. NHTSA also announced a special probe of a fatal Model S crash into a parked fire truck earlier this month. The agency is probing more than a dozen Tesla crashes into stationary emergency vehicles involving Autopilot or FSD.
Tesla stock fell sharply for the week, but found support Friday at the 10-week line.
Oracle, MongoDB Fall In Stock Market On Results
Oracle earnings rose 8% per share in fiscal Q3, topping views, while revenue slightly beat with an 18% rise. Cloud-related software sales boomed, but did miss some estimates. Oracle stock fell. Another database company, MongoDB, soundly beat fiscal Q4 results, but guided Q1 revenue lower. Shares fell sharply.
News In Brief
CrowdStrike said Q4 earnings rose 57% while revenue, including acquisitions, jumped 48% to $637.4 million. Both topped estimates. The cybersecurity firm also guided higher for fiscal Q1 revenue.
Ciena reported fiscal Q1 EPS grew 36%, crushing views for a decline. Revenue rose 25% to $1.056 billion, also beating. Ciena forecast full-year revenue growth of 20%-22%, up from its earlier outlook for 17% growth.
The Justice Department sued to block JetBlue from buying ultra-low-cost Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion, saying it would result in higher fares.
BJ's Wholesale Club topped fourth-quarter estimates, with EPS growth picking up to 25% and revenue 13% higher as inflation-weary shoppers hunted for value. BJ stock gapped up.
General Electric gave a strong long-term outlook for its aviation and energy businesses, set to emerge as independent, publicly traded companies in early 2024. GE stock soared near a five-year high.
Trip.com, a Shanghai-based online travel giant, soundly beat fourth-quarter estimates on the top and bottom lines, fueled by the easing of China's Covid restrictions. But TCOM stock tumbled from near 52-week highs.
JD.com beat fourth-quarter earnings expectations despite some weakness in consumer spending due to Covid-19 restrictions, which were lifted in December. EPS doubled while revenue fell 1% in dollar terms. Shares plunged, extending a big retreat from early January.
Dexcom tumbled Monday after the Food and Drug Administration cleared rival Abbott Laboratories to pair its glucose monitor with automated insulin delivery systems.
Merck said its experimental treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension improved the distance patients could walk for six minutes by 40.8 meters. The Dow drug giant also said its cholesterol treatment led to a 41%-61% reduction in LDL levels after eight weeks. Shares jumped Monday but later slashed gains.
Ulta Beauty reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings and sales. The beauty products retailer guided higher on EPS but lower on same-store sales.
Dick's Sporting Goods topped fourth-quarter forecasts Tuesday with a smaller-than-expected 20% earnings decline and 7.3% revenue growth that topped views. The athletic gear and apparel retailer guided 2023 earnings well above views. DKS stock broke out to a record high.
