Russian Lower?
Over the weekend Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin undertook a 36-hour, armed revolt against the Russian defense establishment, marching his group of “soldiers” away from Ukraine and back toward Moscow. For now, the “insurrection” has passed with the Kremlin taking steps to reassert control over Russia on Monday. Russian state media reported that the leader of the abortive military mutiny, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is still under criminal investigation and the defense minister whom he tried to oust appearing in a video. Global markets have currently shaken off this event as of the open Monday morning.
For the first time in months, global equity markets were almost all lower last week. The German DAX (-3.2%) and French CAC (-3%) led the world in losses. The Canadian TSX was also near the bottom of the pack falling -2.8%. The S&P 500 dropped -1.4%, with banks (-4.1%) and energy (-3.4%) posting the deepest declines. Defensive sectors held up best in the week. Fed Chair Powell testified to Congress. He reiterated that the rate hold at the last meeting wasn’t necessarily a pause (more like a skip that reduces the tightening size). He reinforced that they could be leaning against inflation with these elevated interest rate levels for a while still. The S&P 500 ended Friday’s session at 4,348, down from the previous week’s close of 4,409. Even with the weekly decline, the index is still up +4% in June and +13% this year.
A quick YTD summary of sector performance in the S&P500.
Running down sector performance last week. As they have all year, the markets year to date lagging groups, real estate and energy, continue to underperform. The S&P 500’s real estate sector fell -4%, the largest percentage drop of the week. Energyfollowed, falling -3.4%. The real estate sector’s decliners included shares of Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRT), which fell -6.1% last week as Raymond James lowered its price target on the stock to $115 per share from $120. The energy sector’s drop came as crude oil fell. Decliners included shares of Phillips 66 (PSX), down -6.5%, and Marathon Oil (MRO), which lost -6.6%.
Other decliners down by more than -2% included utilities, financials and technology.
The health care sector was the only up group on the week led by shares of Merck (MRK), which rose +4.8% as the pharmaceutical company completed its $10.8 billion acquisition of Prometheus Biosciences (RXDX) and said a late-stage trial of its Keytruda treatment in patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma met one of its primary endpoints.
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Oak Harvest Weekly Stalk Talk: Summer Stall or Summer Squall?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsfVJa5PNag
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