This morning's release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will be the third, and final, update of 4Q GDP. The update last month indicated 4Q real GDP rose at an annualized 3.2% pace, down from 4.9% growth in 3Q23. The 4Q performance is solid, with contributions from consumer spending, private investment, exports, and government spending. We don't expect a major revision to GDP this morning. Between 1996 and 2022, the average absolute revision to the quarterly percentage change in real GDP was just 30 basis points, according to the BEA. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) on durable goods increased 3.2%, despite a decline in motor vehicles and parts. Gross private domestic investment in structures rose 7.5% after an 11.2% increase in 3Q and a 16.1% increase in 2Q. A report from the U.S. Treasury Department attributed the recent surge in construction to spending on manufacturing facilities for computers, electronics, and electrical products (bolstered by the CHIPS Act), adding that these categories have become a dominant component of manufacturing construction after a few decades of relatively small share. On April 25, the BEA will release its advance estimate for 1Q GDP. We expect 1Q24 growth to slow to 2.3%. The March 26 GDPNow forecast for 1Q24 from the Atlanta Fed is 2.1%, with an estimate for 1.9% growth in PCE. Residential fixed investment and intellectual property could make strong contributions to 1Q GDP according to the Nowcast. For the remainder of 2024, we expect GDP growth of 1.3% in 2Q, 1.8% in 3Q, and 2.3% in 4Q. Our full year 2024 estimate is 2.0%. Our 2025 estimate is also 2.0. Federal Reserve board members and bank presidents expect GDP to grow 2.1% in 2024, 2.0% in 2025, 2.0% in 2026, and 1.8% in the "longer run," based on the median projections provided at their March meeting.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID) have underperformed large-caps over the past 12 months, but may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the fallout from global events. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps. As well, there are long stretches in the record books when SMID stocks have outperformed large-caps. That said, SMID stocks can be risky. The standard deviation for monthly returns was 5.7% for SMID stocks over a 2003-2021 test period, versus 4.3% for large-caps. Still, despite the risks, diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Stocks were mixed on Tuesday morning as investors await results from the Federal Reserve policy meeting. On the housing front, in February, housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.52 million. This up from the revised 1.37 million in January and above expectations of 1.43 million. Building permits issued were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.52 million, up from January's revised 1.49 million. The Dow rose 0.6%, the S&P 500 was nearly flat and the Nasdaq lost 0.3%. Crude oil traded above $83 per barrel, while gold fell $7 to $2157 per ounce.

Stocks pulled back on Friday morning as investors digested inflation data released this week and ahead of the Fed's policy decision next week. The Labor Department reported that U.S. import prices rose 0.3% in February, matching expectations and down from a 0.8% increase in January. Export prices rose 0.8% after advancing 0.9% in January. Prices for fuel imports advanced 1.8%, while nonfuel imports rose 0.2%. Meanwhile, manufacturing continued to decline. The Empire State Manufacturing Index fell to -20.9 in March from -2.4 in February and below expectations. New orders declined significantly, and employment and hours worked also fell. Input prices softened moderately, while output prices held steady. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment for the first weeks of March edged down to 76.5 from 76.9 in February. The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, the Dow was down 0.4% and the Nasdaq lost 0.9%. Crude oil traded just above $81 per barrel and gold was down $2 to $2165 per ounce.

The decline in the "Misery Index" has stalled near 7% in recent months after peaking at 15% at the start of the pandemic and subsequently dropping from 12.6% in June 2022 to 6.7% in June 2023. The index is a measure of consumers' well-being that adds the unemployment rate and the annual inflation rate -- which are important to the Federal Reserve's dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices. The index was invented by economist Arthur Okun in the 1970s while he was at the Brookings Institution after leading President Johnson's Council of Economic Advisors. To be sure, the index is below the 9.2% average since 1949 and well below "stagflation" peaks around 20% during the Ford and Carter presidencies. The five-year low was 5.2% in September 2019. Recent surveys of consumer sentiment have been volatile, with The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index falling in February after three consecutive increases. Actual spending has been choppy too. Retail sales rose 1.5% on a year-over-year basis in February. The result was an improvement from January's flat performance but weaker than December's 5% rise. After the report, the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow estimate for 1Q personal consumption growth declined to 2.2% from 2.9% on March 7. PCE remains the dominant driver of the Nowcast's estimate for GDP to grow 2.3% in 1Q. A risk we have been monitoring is ongoing weakness in big-ticket discretionary spending. Record-high credit-card rates have made consumers reluctant to purchase items that may take months to pay off. Sales at electronics and appliance stores encouragingly turned positive in February, but building materials stores were off 6.1% while furniture and home furnishings stores declined 10.1%. Our analysis of last week's employment report supports our expectation for a mid-year rate cut that could lift discretionary spending. Some improvement in inflation from this week's CPI report would raise our confidence and lower the Misery Index.

'Green Shoots' from the Fed

We are raising our long-term technical outlook to Bullish and most likely will raise the intermediate-term outlook to bullish if we ever get a pullback. With the benefit of hindsight, both timeframes should have been changed to bullish either in the middle of 2023 or late 2023. Yet for the most part, the daily commentary in parts of 2023 and 2024 conveyed bull-market action in market breadth, as well as breadth and price thrusts typically seen in early bull markets. Things got tricky in October 2023, when the S&P 500 broke many key averages as well as its bull-market trendline off the October 2022 lows. In addition, market breadth fell back to bear-market territory. At the same time, the entire yield curve was in a strong uptrend, hitting and exceeding 5%.

After Friday's bearish intraday reversal and heavy downside volume, especially in the Nasdaq, Nasdaq 100 (QQQ), semiconductors, and most of the Technology sector, we did see some downside follow-through on Monday. But it certainly wasn't convincing. Once again, the market bounced off its lows as algorithmic trading seemingly took over. The Nasdaq and the QQQs fell 0.4%, while the S&P 500 (SPX) clawed its way back, dropping a mere 0.1%.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Monday Tee Up: Is Inflation Still Trending Down?

The stock market finally saw a little reversion to the mean on Friday, as the most-loved stock and industry was whacked. Nvidia (NVDA) fell 5.5%, its worst day since May 2023. This followed huge advances of 95% since January 3 and 130% since October 2023. Over six days (ending March 7), the shares rose more than 19%. At Friday's intraday high, NVDA hit $974 and then was slammed down to $865 by 1:35 pm.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday morning as investors digested new economic data. Last week's initial jobless claims were 217,000, unchanged from the prior week's revised level. Ongoing unemployment was 1,906,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's re-vised level. That leaves the insured unemployment rate at 1.3%. The international trade deficit widened to 67.4 billion in January according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Exports inched up by $0.3 billion, with automobiles and parts exports rising $1.4 billion while industrial supplies and material exports fell $1.7 billion. The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, the Dow 0.3% and the Nasdaq gained 1.4%. Crude oil traded just above $79 per barrel, while gold rose $7 to $2165 per ounce.