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If this is your first time reading, welcome to The Investor’s Edge — a thriving community of over 21,000 subscribers striving to be better investors with an edge in the market.

Every weekend we publish “The Weekly Wrap-Up” — your ticket to being well informed and staying ahead in the investment game!

This report is designed to help investors of all skill levels break down important stories/topics within the stock market. And best of all, we cut through all of the BS and give you exactly what you need to know in easy to digest, bite sized pieces of content.

Grab your coffee and let’s dive in.

Market Talk

All three major indexes finished the week lower as tariff concerns, the labor market and consumer sentiment weighed on markets.

3 Stories Moving the Market

These are some of the biggest stories from the second half of the week that had an influence on market action.

U.S. economy added just 143,000 jobs in January but unemployment rate fell to 4%

Job creation in January came in below expectations, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 143,000, missing the 169,000 forecast and dropping sharply from December’s revised 307,000.

However, the unemployment rate fell to 4%, aided by a 0.1 percentage point rise in labor force participation to 62.6%.

Despite softer job growth, wages surged: average hourly earnings rose 0.5% month-over-month and 4.1% year-over-year, beating estimates of 0.3% and 3.7%, respectively.

Hiring was strongest in health care (+44,000), retail (+34,000), and government (+32,000), while mining-related industries lost 8,000 jobs. Overall, January’s gains trailed the 2024 monthly average of 166,000.

Consumer inflation fears spike in February as tariff worries hit sentiment

Consumers grew significantly more concerned about near-term inflation, with one-year inflation expectations jumping to 4.3% in February—a full percentage point increase and the highest level since November 2023.

The surge comes as Trump’s tariff policies on key trading partners raise fears of higher consumer prices, despite a delay in tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

The University of Michigan sentiment index fell sharply to 67.8, missing expectations (71.3) and marking a 4.6% decline from January and 11.8% drop YoY. The current conditions index sank to 68.7 (-7.2% MoM), while expectations dropped to 67.3 (-2.9% MoM).

Though five-year inflation expectations edged up to 3.3% (+0.1pp), the broader deterioration in sentiment suggests rising concerns over inflation and trade policy impacts. Stocks fell after the report, with the Dow initially dropping over 100 points.

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Earnings: Amazon, Eli Lilly, Qualcomm and more report results

Earnings season is off to a strong start. Here’s how some of the major companies that reported this week have performed:

Amazon shares fell despite beating earnings and revenue expectations as guidance was softer than expected due to currency headwinds. Here are the key numbers from the report:

• Earnings per share: $1.86 vs. $1.49 expected

• Revenue: $187.79 billion vs. $187.31 billion expected

Eli Lilly shares rose despite missing revenue expectations as the company raised its dividend and announced a new $15B share buyback program. Here are the key numbers from the report:

• Earnings per share: $5.32 vs. $5.04 expected

• Revenue: $13.53 billion vs. $13.55 billion expected

Qualcomm shares declined despite topping earnings and revenue estimates and providing better than expected guidance. Here are the key numbers from the report:

• Earnings per share: $3.41 vs. $2.96 expected

• Revenue: $11.67 billion vs. $10.91 billion expected

Hershey shares rose after beating earnings and revenue expectations and despite providing guidance that was softer than expected. Here are the key numbers from the report:

• Earnings per share: $2.69 vs. $2.37 expected

• Revenue: $2.89 billion vs. $2.84 billion expected

*Note - our full breakdown of these reports, as well as several others, was sent out in Friday’s Earnings Recap.

In Other News

In this section, we'll be curating a selection of news headlines we think you'll find interesting. If a topic catches your eye, click the provided links to read more about it.

• Amazon issues disappointing revenue forecast, points to weakest growth on record

• Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week

• UK demands access to Apple users' encrypted data

• Tesla car sales in China fall 11.5% as competition intensifies

• Softbank set to invest $40 billion in OpenAI at $260 billion valuation, sources say

• Uber shares jump to three-month high after Bill Ackman builds stake

• Eli Lilly beats on earnings even as weight loss, diabetes drug sales fall short

• Qualcomm tops estimates for earnings and revenue on strong smartphone demand

• Ford beats earnings expectations but forecasts tougher year ahead

• Bristol Myers Squibb plans $2 billion in cost cuts by 2027, issues weak guidance

• Affirm shares soar 22% on revenue beat, surprise profit during holiday period

• Hershey shares jump on earnings beat, outlook weighed by cocoa cost

• Take-Two Tops Earnings Targets As Gamers Await 'Grand Theft Auto 6'

• Honeywell confirms plans to split into 3 companies

• Pinterest shares rocket 17% on strong revenue and user growth

Edge+ Posts of the Week

We continue to push out more and more content every week to give investors that edge. Here are the posts Investor’s Edge+ subscribers received this week.

The Edge Report

Mondays are for the investors. Every Monday morning we share exactly what we’re watching in the week ahead, how we’re positioning, and even share a sneak peek into our systems and models. This week we discussed the huge week of earnings ahead, the impacts of tariffs, and the upcoming jobs reports. See the latest full report here:

The Options Edge Report

This week, we dropped the latest Edge Options Report for our members—packed with actionable insights and options strategies. This week we broke down a play on PayPal following its earnings move. See the latest report here:

Edge Quick Picks

Every month we break down 5 stocks that we believe are attractive from a valuation perspective right now. See the 5 stocks we are buying in February:

Earnings Recap

Every week during earnings season is extremely busy for us here at the Edge as we dive into over 100 reports and provide our members with top tier breakdowns and insights. This week we saw earnings from Alphabet, Amazon, Eli Lilly, and many more. See this week’s recap:

The Week Ahead

Earnings season carries on with several major companies reporting, while the labor market is in focus on the economy side.

Earnings Reports

Earnings season carries on next week. Here is the list of names we will be covering:

• Monday 2/10: McDonald’s

• Tuesday 2/11: Coca-Cola and Shopify

• Wednesday 2/12: Cisco and The Trade Desk

• Thursday 2/13: Palo Alto, Deere, AirBnB, and Coinbase

• Friday 2/14: Enbridge

Here is the full calendar of scheduled earnings releases:

Economic Reports

Next week is all about inflation as we get both the CPI and PPI reports.

We also get retail sales, initial jobless claims, testimony from Jerome Powell in front of Congress, and several Fed speeches.

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Thank you for reading this edition of the Weekly Wrap-Up. Have a great weekend!

Until next time investors!

Mark & Chris

The Investor’s Edge

Disclosure

This is not investing advice. It is very important that you do your own research and make investments based on your own personal circumstances, preferences, goals and risk tolerance.