On the earnings front, I would highlight continued strength in the financials. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Blackstone were notable outperformers. Netflix posted solid results, and so did United Airlines. The Semiconductor sector posted mixed results this week as the Biden Administration announced further measures to curb the sales of advanced AI chip technology to specific countries. The news came just before the errant early release of Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML’s quarterly results, where the company missed on earnings, revenues, and bookings while slashing its full-year 2025 guidance. The news sent shares lower by 17% while its peers sold off in sympathy. Later in the week, the Semis caught a bid off of the better-than-anticipated results from Taiwan Semiconductor. The healthcare sector struggled this week due to disappointing results from United Health and Elevance. Apple advanced on the news that sales of the iPhone 16 accelerated in China.
The S&P 500 added 0.9%, the Dow rose by 1%, the NASDAQ gained 0.8%, and the Russell 2000 jumped 1.9%. The Treasury market ended the week flat, with the 2-year yield increasing by one basis point to 3.95%, while the 10-year yield closed unchanged at 4.07%.
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