Monday, February 10, 2025
We start a new trading week somewhat quietly — although this is all relative considering the headline generation of President Trump early in his second term — but will heat up as the days roll along. The Dow is up a strong +285 points at this hour, with the S&P 500 +39 and the Nasdaq +212 points. The small-cap Russell 2000 is up a solid +14 points.
Steel tariffs is the new focus on Wall Street, as Trump now promises a +25% tax on imported steel and aluminum — most of which comes from Canada. This has helped stocks like Cleveland-Cliffs CLF +8% and Nucor NUE +7%. This isn’t doing much to foster near-term stability, to say nothing of bringing prices down, but the market is choosing to accentuate the positive at this early stage of the trading week.
Over the past month, the blue-chip Dow leads all major indexes, +5.8%, followed by the Russell, +4.4%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are up +3.6% and +3.4% for the month. As the honeymoon period of the new administration continues, we expect concrete economic data numbers to begin to elbow their way into the conversation over time.
CPI, PPI Reports This Week
On Wednesday and Thursday this week, we’ll see Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) reports for January hitting the tape, respectively. These are the retail and wholesale prints that reflect directly on other inflation metrics, like Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), which ids the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation.
January CPI is expected to remain steady month over month at +0.3%, but continue its ticking-up for the fifth straight month on the year-over-year headline, aka the “Inflation Rate,” to +3.1%. The PPI side is expected to split the difference of the previous two months (+0.4% and +0.2%, respectively) to bring in +0.3%, as well. Year over year, analysts are looking for a steady +3.3% — the highest print in two years.
Quarterly Earnings Roundup: MCD, ROK
McDonald’s MCD met estimates exactly for its Q4 earnings this morning, at $2.83 per share, while $6.39 billion missed the Zacks consensus by -1.16%. Shares are climbing in pre-market trading, however, as the outlook for the QSR giant is expected to improve notably by the second half of 2025. For more on MCD’s earnings, click here.
Check out the updated Zacks Earnings Calendar here.
Rockwell Automation ROK shares are up +7% this morning on a fiscal Q1 earnings beat of more than +13% to $1.83 per share. Revenues also beat estimates, albeit more modestly, by +0.44% to $1.88 billion. This report helped flip sentiment in the stock, which had been trading down -6% year to date. For more on ROK’s earnings, click here.
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