Stocks Reverse To The Upside To Start March

After a rough February, markets reverse course to start March

Author

Mark Roussin
March 06, 2023

Welcome to the +268 new subscribers who joined our Dividend Investor’s Edge community this past week. If this is your first time reading, but you have not yet subscribed, join our fast growing investing community of ~7.4K investors.

Seeking Alpha is a great place for investors to gain tons of insights on individual stocks or ETFs. The site has a SPECIAL offer right now where you can gain access to Seeking Alpha PREMIUM for only $99, normally $239. Seeking Alpha PREMIUM allows you access to ALL articles (no paywalls), Top Stock Picks, Expert Analysis, and Education webinars, podcasts, and article.
Click HERE to receive this special promotion. You can try it out for 7-days completely FREE.
*This is sponsored advertising content.

Market Talk ⏪

After a dismal month in February for the stock market, things have turned around, at least at the start of March. March has historically been one of the best performing months for the market based on history.

Hot inflation and continued rate hikes have been top of mind for investors of late, but this week, investors will have their eyes and ears on Fed Chair Powell’s testimony mid-week and also focused on the latest employment report, which is expected on Friday March 10th. The job market has stubbornly held together even in the face of hot inflation over the past year, and the Fed is looking to break that trend. In January, 517,000 jobs were added, which blew past expectations. In February, analysts are expecting 225,000 jobs were added, but I am looking (hoping) for something below estimate.

The week ahead is light in terms of notable names, but there are still some notable retail names trickling in this week.

In terms of the week prior, on Monday, the January pending home sales report showed a larger-than-expected monthly increase. However, in recent weeks mortgage rates have once again climbed higher, which would further add pressure to real estate. The average 30yr fixed-rate mortgage jumped to 6.71% during the week, pushing mortgage volume down another 6%.

The February ISM Manufacturing PMI was released on Wednesday, missing expectations and pointing to the fourth consecutive month of contraction for the manufacturing industry and third month for the overall economy. 

Thursday’s initial jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 25 came in at 190,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the prior week and below the 195,000 expected. 

In terms of international news, China’s factory activity expanded in February as the official manufacturing PMI jumped to the highest level in nearly 11 years. The index hit 52.6 in February, higher than the 50.1 reported for January and above expectations of 50.5. Also, the UK and EU agreed to a new trade deal with Northern Ireland.

Deep Dive 📰

Become a premium subscriber today for ONLY $1 PER DAY. Premium subscribers receive the following:

  • Monthly Portfolio Updates

  • Earnings Recaps

  • 2 Individual Stock Deep Dives Per Month

  • And More

We recently published our lates Monthly Portfolio Update, which can be found HERE.

Go PREMIUM today!

US Markets 🇺🇸

Here is a performance summary for US Equities:

Here is a look at US Treasuries:

The Fear & Greed Index measures market sentiment based on the following seven factors: put/call ratios, junk bond demand, stock price breadth, market volatility, stock price strength, safe-haven demand, and market momentum.

When it comes to the Fear and Greed Index, even with the markets up last week, the F&G Index fell from a Greed rating to a Neutral rating which is rather telling. Bond were rather quiet last week, but all the major US Indexes were up on the week. Currently, the index has a reading of 55, which is down from the prior week reading of 58.

Earnings on Deck 💰

The earnings reports are beginning to slow, with much of the S&P 500 already reported, but we still have some big names reporting this week, particularly out of the retail sector.

Dividend News 📝

Here are some notable dividend stocks going ex-dividend this week. You must own the stock PRIOR to the ex-dividend date in order to receive the next dividend payment.

MONDAY February 27th

TUESDAY February 28th

WEDNESDAY March 1st

THURSDAY March 2nd

FRIDAY March 3rd

Here are some notable analyst upgrade/downgrades from the previous week:

  • Telsey downgrades Best Buy to market perform from outperform

  • Bank of America upgrades Union Pacific to buy from neutral

  • Citi downgrades Dick’s to neutral from buy

  • Guggenheim initiates AbbVie as buy

  • UBS upgrades Procter & Gamble to buy from neutral

  • JPMorgan upgrades Procter & Gamble to overweight from neutral

  • UBS upgrades Philip Morris to buy from neutral

  • Credit Suisse names Microsoft a top pick

  • JPMorgan downgrades Dollar Tree to neutral from overweight

  • JPMorgan downgrades Hormel to underweight from neutral

This Week 📆

Monday

  • Factory Orders

Tuesday

  • Wholesale trade

  • Fed Chairman Jerome Powell testimony before Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee

  • Consumer credit

Wednesday

  • ADP employment

  • International trade

  • Fed Chairman Powell testimony before House Financial Services Committee

  • Beige book

Thursday

  • Initial claims

  • Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr

Friday

  • Employment report

  • Federal budget

Other Resources 📺

If you have not done so yet, definitely check out my growing YouTube community where I publish weekly videos on Dividend Stocks I am looking at.

Here is a look at my latest video: SCHD: The BEST Dividend ETF

I also recently published a video discussing 4 Cheap Dividend Stocks To Buy In March:

Here are a few others of my latest videos:

If you enjoyed the newsletter, leave a LIKE and COMMENT down below. Also, if there is someone that could benefit from this newsletter, consider sharing it.

Have questions? You can email me directly at [email protected].

Happy Investing!

Mark

Reply

or to participate.