Read the highlights of this week’s commentary from Helios:
- The S&P 500 Index hit its 15th record high this year, topping 5,100 on Friday. With nearly all S&P 500 companies reporting, fourth-quarter earnings significantly outperformed expectations, showing impressive earnings growth of nearly 8% against a forecast of 1.2%.
- Personal consumption expenditures (PCE), the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, came in as expected for January at 2.4% year-over-year and core inflation (excluding food and energy) at 2.8%, both decreasing from December.
- Apollo Management’s Chief Economist believes the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates in 2024 due to a resurgence in the US economy and persistent inflation. His analysis suggests that the Fed will focus on combating inflation throughout most of 2024, resulting in sustained high fixed-income yields.
- Bitcoin’s value surged above $60,000 for the first time since November 2021. Despite a 64% plunge in 2022, Bitcoin has more than tripled in value since the start of last year, outperforming traditional assets like stocks and gold in 2024.
- The optimism around Bitcoin is bolstered by the significant inflows into the spot ETFs, the anticipated reduction in newly mined Bitcoin known as the halving, and a general renewed optimism in the crypto asset class.
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