Mercados globales

The market closed red across the board as geopolitical tensions and economic turmoilcontinue to stress investors. ? Russia announced that it ordered some troops to retreat from the Ukrainian border, but Washington remains on high alert; meanwhile, the Fed deliberates raising Interes rates even higher. 

Earlier this week, President Biden announced that there is a “high risk” of Russia invading Ukraine “within the next several days.” However, the White House also has “not verified” Russia’s announcement that the country withdrew some troops from Ukraine’s border — the U.S. believes there could be up to 150,000 Russian troops on the border of Ukraine and Belarus. Uncertainty about Russia’s situation saw the Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000 drop -1.78%, -2.12%, -2.88%, and -2.46%, respectively. 

But Russia isn’t the only topic of conversation among anxious investors — inflation continues its climb to its 40-year highs, and this week showed U.S. jobless claims surge to 248,000, a week-over-week increase. The 10-year Treasury yield dumped 2%, but gold is up 1.6% on the day. Oil also slid lower as economic sanctions and geopolitical uncertainty pose threats to oil supply across the globe. And last but not least… the Fed Reserve Bank of St. Louis declared that rate hikes may need to exceed 2% to arrest inflation.

Stocks were dragged lower for a second straight day after several U.S. officials issued warnings that Russia could attack Ukraine in the next several days. Also, presentations by several members of the Federal Open Market Committee left investors wanting for more detail about the central bank's impending tightening plans. Among them was New York Fed President John Williams, who, while speaking at a New Jersey City University event, said "it will be appropriate to raise the target rate" in March but didn't specify by how much. Also in focus today was data from the National Association of Realtors that showed existing-home sales climbed 6.7% month-over-month in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 million units. This was the biggest sequential rise since July 2020, says Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO. And the gains were broad-based across both categories of homes and regions in the U.S. According to Lee, this is likely indicative of "the rush to get in before borrowing costs move higher. The Fed's communication has been crystal clear on that front … warning that higher rates are just around the corner." At the close, the Nasdaq was down 1.2%% at 13,548, the S&P 500 was off 0.7% at 4,348 and the Dow ended with a 0.7% loss at 34,079 – though all three indexes finished off their session lows.

As a reminder, the U.S. stock market will be closed Monday in observance of Presidents' Day.

While the stock market may be worried about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, S&P 500 companies don't seem to be."During each corporate earnings season, it is not unusual for companies to comment on subjects that had an impact on their earnings and revenues in a given quarter, or may have an impact on earnings and revenues in future quarters," says John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet. But in a search of all S&P 500 firms that had earnings conference calls between Dec. 15 and Feb. 17, "Ukraine" was cited in just 4% of those calls. "By contrast, 72% of S&P 500 companies have cited 'inflation' on earnings calls over this same period," Butters adds. While companies often have options in combating higher inflation, so too do investors. One potential way to guard a portfolio against inflation risk is with defensive, dividend-paying plays such as healthcare stocks or real estate investment trusts (REITs). Another is to consider consumer staples stocks, which tend to hold up during periods of higher prices. Read on as we look at some of the best consumer staples stocks for 2022, many of which offer investors some level of defense against rising prices.

The stock market is likely to face more twists and turns in the Russia-Ukraine drama next week to add to investor anxiety over the pace and impact of interest rate hikes. Earnings are due in from include Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), Home Depot (NYSE:HD), Lowe's, (NYSE:LOW), Macy's (NYSE:M), eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) and Block (NYSE:SQ). On the economic calendar, the second estimate of Q4 GDP is expected to see an upward revision. Updates on new home sales and durable goods orders are also on the way. One of the biggest consumer conference of the year will run with the CAGNY gathering likely to throw an even brighter spotlight on some consumer staples favorites. The oil market will also be in the spotlight next week as Russia-Ukraine developments play out and the prospect of higher production out of Iran is weighed.

Earnings spotlight: Tuesday, February 22 Home Depot (HD), Macy's (M), Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR), Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) and Teladoc (NYSE:TDOC).

Earnings spotlight: Wednesday, February 23 Lowe's (LOW, TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX), Overstock.com(NASDAQ:OSTK), eBay (EBAY), Hertz Global (NASDAQ:HTZ), Overstock.com(OSTK), fuboTV (NYSE:FUBO) and Skillz (NYSE:SKLZ).

Earnings spotlight: Thursday, February 24 Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY), Li Auto (NASDAQ:LI), Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA), Dell (DELL), Block (SQ), Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK), VMware (NYSE:VMW), Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN), Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:BYND) and Rocket Companies (NYSE:RKT).

Earnings spotlight: Friday, February 25 Foot Locker (NYSE:FL), Cinemark Holdings (NYSE:CNK) and Icahn Enterprises (NASDAQ:IEP).

Agenda semanal:

El mercado está a la espera de conocer la próxima decisión de la Reserva Federal. Esta semana se publican datos relevantes que pueden influir en esta decisión, como el gasto en consumo personal. Además, continúa la temporada de resultados de las principales empresas estadounidenses.