The main stock market indexes are expected to finish this week down about 1%. The sector rotation this year is alive and well and has continued this week. Energy, basic materials, consumer staples, and real estate all performed well this week, while the tech sector continued to shed some gains. Times such as these serve as a great example of the importance of diversification across market sectors.
In corporate news, we are just over halfway through the 2025 fourth quarter earnings season. So far, 76% of companies have beaten earnings estimates, which are slightly below the 5-year average. This week, notable companies reporting strong earnings included Applied Materials, Arista Networks, T-Mobile, and Coca-Cola. In tech news, Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced it had acquired his AI startup, xAI, and plans to go public in mid-2026. The initial public offering of SpaceX will be one of the largest in history estimated at around $1.5 trillion.
An update on last week’s almanac story: the McDonald’s Free McNuggets caviar kits became available on Tuesday and were so popular that every kit sold out within five minutes, causing its website to crash. The kit included a 1-ounce tin of Paramount Baerii sturgeon caviar, a $25 gift card for McNuggets and crème fraîche, and a mother-of-pearl caviar spoon. What first appeared to be a bizarre food combination has turned into a genius marketing move, and McDonald’s has already stated that it plans to create more limited-time deals in the future.
In economic news, the U.S. employment numbers came in on Wednesday better than expected, with the economy adding 130,000 jobs in January, beating economist estimates of 55,000. The report also included 2025 revisions with the initial 584,000 new jobs in 2025 having decreased to 181,000. The U.S. unemployment rate was reported at 4.3% in January, slightly below the 4.4% estimate. The initial jobless claims report came in on Thursday at 227,000, slightly above the 225,000 estimate. Consumer price index rose 2.4% in January from the previous year. This comes below the expected rate of 2.5%, indicating a sign that price pressures are easing. Excluding food and energy, the core CPI rose 2.5%.
With the NFL football season ending last week, the 2026 Winter Olympics is in full swing. As of Thursday night, Norway and Italy stand in first place with 18 medals and the United States in second with 14. In a controversial judging moment, United States snowboarder Chloe Kim fell just shy of a third consecutive gold in the halfpipe. Kim ended up taking home silver, while losing to 17-year-old Korean Choi Ga-on. Another athlete who made headlines is Norwegian skier Johannes Klaebo, who won his third gold medal at the 2026 Games and his eighth career gold medal. In men’s ice hockey, the United States team kicked off its preliminaries against Latvia on Thursday, winning 5-1. Brock Nelson, who happens to be the nephew of Dave Christian, a defenseman on the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team, shone with two goals in the opener.
Ryan Motsinger
