This week, Wall Street experienced a rare midweek holiday with the stock and bond markets closed for the Juneteenth Holiday on Wednesday. The four-day trading week usually means lower volume and added volatility, which will be further intensified on Friday with the Triple Witching expiration of options, stock index futures, and stock index options.
Walmart is hosting a members-only shopping event called Walmart+ this week, running through June 23. One of the most anticipated reports this week is the retail sales reports for May. Economists are expecting a 0.3% gain for the month, following a flat measure in April. Retail sales have not seen an increase since January, and a low print this time will likely increase expectations for the Fed to cut rates by a quarter point in September.
With Treasury yields falling after cool inflation data on both the retail and wholesale fronts, there is a discussion on how to build a rate-agnostic portfolio. This strategy focuses on creating a stable path that can benefit from various situations without being dependent on interest rate movements. The idea is to position the portfolio in a way that can provide income regardless of whether interest rates go up, down, or remain stable.
In terms of earnings, some companies reporting this week include Lennar and La-Z-Boy on Monday, KB Home and America’s Car-Mart on Tuesday, Accenture, Kroger, and Darden Restaurants on Thursday, and CarMax and FactSet on Friday.
For those interested in attending an investing summit, Seeking Alpha is hosting one on June 18 in New York. It is a great opportunity for individual investors to meet experts from various companies and gain insights into big investment and trading decisions.
In entertainment news, early tracking for Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” movie suggests a record-breaking opening weekend for an R-rated movie. The film is projected to surpass previous opening weekend records for R-rated movies and could generate between $200 million and $239 million in its opening weekend.
Pixar’s latest animation flick, “Inside Out 2,” has also exceeded expectations, making $62 million in domestic ticket sales on its opening day, marking the year’s biggest box office opening so far.
For income investors, Philip Morris goes ex-dividend on Friday, June 21, while UnitedHealth, Hewlett Packard, and Best Buy go ex-dividend earlier in the week.
Goldman Sachs has raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 index to 5,600 from 5,200, citing milder-than-average negative earnings-per-share revisions and a higher fair-value price-to-earnings multiple. This adjustment reflects the changing expectations of analysts and brokerages following a sustained rally in the markets.
Overall, the week promises to be eventful with a mix of economic indicators, earnings reports, entertainment news, and investment opportunities to keep an eye on.
