The US stock market finished last week in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.51%, the S&P 500 added 2.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite increased by 1.2%. Over the past week, the S&P 500 gained 0.8%, the NASDAQ increased by 1.1%, and the Dow Jones remained unchanged.
Market players remained uneasy throughout the week over escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. On Thursday, Russian president Putin announced a "special military operation" against Ukraine to assist the self-proclaimed regions of DPR and LPR in Eastern Ukraine, beginning an invasion of the country.
US and international markets went down on the news, but regained some lost ground later in the day. Markets found some support in statements by US president Biden, who announced no sanctions would be placed on Russian oil exports. Biden also did not support cutting Russia from SWIFT at that time, signaling that the US and its allies were not yet ready to impose harsher sanctions. Several measures against Russian financial institutions and state companies have been enacted at that point.
Russia and Ukraine are holding talks in Belarus today, giving investors hope of a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The negotiations, originally planned to take place in Minsk, have been moved to the Gomel region close to the Ukrainian border.
These developments are affecting the Dow Jones index, which includes companies that are highly susceptible to economic fluctuations. The possibility of a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the near future would improve the sentiment of market players.
Investors are also digesting the latest US personal income and spending data. According to recent data, personal income has changed negligibly compared to December 2021, while personal spending rose by 2.1% - the largest increase over the past 12 months. Economists expected personal income to decrease by 0.3%, while consumer spending was projected to increase by 1.6%.
Analysts predict US consumer spending to rise by 3.4% in 2022, as concerns over the spread of COVID-19 ease. Consumer spending accounts for almost 70% of the US economy.
The consumer confidence index fell to 62.8 points this month, down from 67.2 points in the previous month. Economists expected the index to decline to 61.7 points.
US companies continue to publish their earnings:
Beyond Meat reported its losses have increased 3.2-fold in Q4 2022. Its sales outlook also disappointed investors, pushing its stock down by 9.2%.
Dell Technologies Inc. also reported a loss in the previous quarter. Shares of the company lost 7.8%, despite Dell paying dividends to its shareholders.
Shares of Foot Locker Inc. dived by 30% due to a 16.3% drop in profits and a poor earnings outlook for 2022.
Cinemark lost 0.2%, despite finishing the previous quarter in the black and increasing its revenues 7-fold.
Shares of Etsy Inc. jumped by 16.2% thanks to profits in the previous quarter and earnings data that exceeded expectations.
Advanced Micro Devices announced a buy-back of shares worth $8 billion, pushing its stock price up by 3.8%.