The stock market rebounded on Thursday after a sell-off driven by inflation data.
Retail sales dropped 0.8% in January, against the expected 0.3% decline, which raised concern on the strength of the US consumer.
Overall, S&P 500 grew 0.6% to 5,030, while NASDAQ was up 0.3% to 15,906.
Tweet of the Day
Every time US government tax receipts declined, the US was in recession… and when they were this low, the US was reeling after the dot com and credit bubbles.
This time is different though, thanks to Bidenomics. pic.twitter.com/cQ4T0gYZYM
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 14, 2024
Chart of the Day
Here is the ten-year chart of Lockheed Martin (LMT) as of January 30, 2024, when the stock was at $432.
Lockheed Martin is delivering weak results, and the stock is slacking because of it. Last quarter, the military defense contractor delivered just 2% profit growth on 2% sales growth. Meanwhile, the stock has gone from around $480 to around $430 during the past year.
Lockheed Martin closed out 2023 with record backlog and positive momentum that will carry the company into 2024. However, it often takes a while for orders to translate into sales as the company has to build the complex machinery and deliver it to have it be counted as revenue.
LMT used to part of our Conservative Growth Portfolio. David Sharek, Founder of School of Hard Stocks, recently sold the shares as he wishes to focus on mid-teens growers.
