1 Stock to Buy, 1 Stock to Sell This Week: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley
U.S. stocks ended little changed on Friday as investors digested the first batch of fourth-quarter earnings and continued to assess the Federal Reserve’s rate plans for the months ahead.
Despite Friday’s downbeat performance, all three major averages posted weekly gains. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3%, the benchmark S&P 500 inched up 1.8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.1%.
For the S&P 500, it was its best weekly performance since mid-December, while the Nasdaq posted its biggest weekly gain since early November.
The holiday-shortened week ahead — which will see U.S. stock markets closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Day holiday — is expected to be another busy one as Q4 earnings shift into high gear.
Reports this week are expected from notable names like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, PNC Financial (NYSE:PNC), Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW), and Interactive Brokers (NASDAQ:IBKR).
In addition to earnings, retail sales, housing data, and the Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey are the highlights of the economic calendar.
Those releases will be accompanied by a heavy slate of Fed FOMC speakers, with the likes of district governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman as well as New York Fed President John Williams set to make public appearances.
As of Sunday morning, financial markets see an 80% chance of a 25-basis point rate cut in March, according to the Investing.com Fed Monitor Tool.
Regardless of which direction the market goes, below I highlight one stock likely to be in demand and another which could see fresh downside.
Remember though, my timeframe is just for the week ahead, Monday, January 15 — Friday, January 19.
I believe shares of Goldman Sachs will outperform this
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