Ep 26: Stock Market Update | Earnings Report Card, Nvidia Earnings, Sticky Inflation

Jess: Well, well, well, once again, we've almost made it through another earning season, and it seems like there's a lot happening in the stock market right now.

Jessie: We laughed, Jessie.

Jess: We've cried.

Jessie: It was an emotional rollercoaster.

Jess: Ooh, should we have a little tea party and discuss? A little coffee talk, perhaps? Dish it all to me, sis.

Jessie: Tell me what's happening.

Jess: What's happening? Yes, the tea is hot.

Jessie: I love the little accent.

Jess: That's fun.

Jessie: That's the new talent.

Jess: Cue the intro.

Jessie: Whose turn is it? Yours, mine? Who's doing it? Yours, Jessie.

Jess: Let's go.

Jessie: Okay.

Jess: Let's go.

Jessie: Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Jess: You're listening to Market MakeHer, the stock market education podcast breaking down all sorts of complex topics for the self-directed investor or anyone who is here to learn, but it's from her perspective.

Jessie: I'm Jessie Dinwi, a beginner on this investing journey with you, asking all the questions and breaking down the jargon.

Jess: And I'm Jess Inskip, here to explain how it all works with my almost 15 years of financial investing experience.

Jessie: Be 15 in July.

Jess: We're going to update that statement when that happens.

Jessie: And I got my teacup out, so let's get to spilling.

Jess: Do you actually have tea in your cup over there, Jess? What are you drinking? Nope.

Jessie: No tea here.

Jess: I mean, there's always tea, but this is rosé with frozen strawberries.

Jessie: Keeps it cold, makes it fresh, makes it taste nice.

Jess: Sounds about right.

Jessie: I got my hard kombucha over here like we do up in the good old PNW.

Jess: Here for it.

Jessie: You know, our podcast does not have any financial advice, but we can give beverage advice.

Jess: We could do that.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: And we're open to receiving beverages that we can talk about or whatever drink while we're dishing stock market tea.

Jessie: I second this motion.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: I like where this is going.

Jess: Feel free to send us beverages.

Jessie: So let's talk about it.

Jess: Let's get into it.

Jessie: What's going on in the stock market now? So we're wrapping up Q4 2023 earnings season, which happens every quarter.

Jess: If you haven't heard about us talking about earnings seasons yet, right now we're talking about what happened in Q4 of last year.

Jessie: Basically when all the publicly traded companies tell us about their earnings for the previous quarter, we like to call this the company's report card.

Jess: Did they have a good grade? Meet expectations? Did they beat their projected earnings or not? Like where this is going, their report card.

Jessie: There were some reports and we just put a pretty little bow on earnings season.

Jess: Actually yesterday.

Jessie: And this bow was bright green with the NVIDIA logo all over it.

Jess: We need all that NVIDIA tea because I've heard a lot about them.

Jessie: There's a lot of buzz going on about that.

Jess: But first, who is coming up on top and who is falling short? So who's failing? Who's passing? Who might be held back a year next year? Do we know? Oh, we always know.

Jessie: We get the data, get to see if things are working out.

Jess: And I'm having deja vu again.

Jessie: I swear it's the same thing every earnings season.

Jess: Becoming a little predictable.

Jessie: That's okay.

Jess: Well, that's because you predict it all, all the time.

Jessie: One day that will not happen.

Jess: So I don't, I'm going to knock.

Jessie: You've been pretty good so far.

Jess: I'm going to knock on something.

Jessie: Knock on wood.

Jess: Knock on wood.

Jessie: I can't do that right now.

Jess: Do your homework, kids.

Jessie: But it's always better than anticipated.

Jess: So, so far, and when we say market, we look at the S&P 500, so 500 stocks, 437 of them reported, 78% were above expectations.

Jessie: More importantly, this is the big thing that is really, really good.

Jess: Well, mostly.

Jessie: Because we had year-over-year earnings growing, and it was at 3.2% year-over-year.

Jess: So yearly growth, 3.2%.

Jessie: That's the second quarter that we've had growth, which means earnings have bottomed.

Jess: That's good.

Jessie: Bottoming is good, you say? But yes.

Jess: I have so many jokes that I will not make, but yes.

Jessie: Okay, but wait.

Jess: I thought earnings were also doing better than expected this whole year, right? Were they just not declining as much as analysts said? Yeah, exactly.

Jessie: Okay.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: So they expected negative growth in earnings, collectively, all together.

Jess: Not just one sector.

Jessie: This is just all together.

Jess: What? For Q4, you mean, or 2023? In previous quarters.

Jessie: So the Q4 was positive, and Q3 was positive.

Jess: Q2 was negative, and before that, was negative.

Jessie: And that's all because of the whole restrictive Fed, inflation coming in hot.

Jess: Coming in hot.

Jessie: But we finally flipped positive last quarter, and we're about to do it again.

Jess: We've got less than 100 companies, like what, 63 coming? We're going to make it.

Jessie: And that doesn't happen.

Jess: That doesn't happen in a recession, kids.

Jessie: Listeners.

Jess: You're not kids.

Jessie: You're adults.

Jess: Okay, but so earnings are beating expectations, but the expectation was not growing, and now they are? Yeah.

Jessie: So they beat the expectations, but now the expectations are increased growth for Q4 and Q3.

Jess: Prior to that, it was a decline, but it was less and less of a decline.

Jessie: And eventually, you'd flip positive.

Jess: So like big decline, less of a decline, even less of a decline.

Jessie: Now we're flipping to growth, and growth is good.

Jess: This is good.

Jessie: This is good stuff.

Jess: It's good.

Jessie: Well, I feel like we should maybe clarify.

Jess: I mean, it's good for the stock market and for our retirement and portfolios and things like that.

Jessie: It's probably not as great for the consumer who's paying high prices.

Jess: It's good for the companies that are profiting and making better profit margins, which is making our stock go up, but then we're ultimately paying those higher costs, right? Well, it depends on why they beat earnings.

Jessie: So there are specific sectors that beat because of pricing power and keeping prices high, but there were others because it was the other side of the equation, so less operating expenses.

Jess: And that's good for us.

Jessie: Oh, right.

Jess: Because I'm guessing one of the top sectors is tech, right? Yeah.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: Okay.

Jessie: Very good.

Jess: Nailed it.

Jessie: It was well above expectations by 89%, but surprisingly to me, what came in second place was consumer staples.

Jess: I was really surprised by that.

Jessie: Oh, really? Do tell.

Jess: So consumer staples, they tend to do well when things are bad.

Jessie: You know what I mean? Oh, that makes sense.

Jess: So the staples are the needs, not the wants, like groceries, necessities.

Jessie: That's why the Dollar Tree stock always does well, or Walmart, whatever, the basic needs that we have to go out and buy no matter how expensive they are.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: And this is where it comes back to what you were saying before.

Jess: It seems like that the consumer staples was more for pricing power, but the others and the staples as well was also automation, and that's good.

Jessie: So it was a combination of pricing power and operating efficiencies.

Jess: Pricing power means higher prices that you are willing to pay, folks.

Jessie: So what about the wants, the consumer discretionary? Yes.

Jess: So that still did really, really well, 76% above, amazing.

Jessie: So people are willing to pay higher prices at the grocery store and still buy their Lululemon yoga pants.

Jess: I guess that makes sense.

Jessie: It's crazy because, yeah, I think we're all complaining about the prices being high and raising, but we're not stopping buying the things that we like to buy.

Jess: So maybe we're all collectively just going through something where we're like, you know what? The world's burning, life is short.

Jessie: We're still going to buy our things that bring us joy, even if they are a little bit more expensive now.

Jess: That's just, I think some people maybe have just accepted it, but I think we'll get into later if things are going to be coming back down or not.

Jessie: But what I really want to talk about is the big green bow, the NVIDIA bow, the earnings.

Jess: And this is a big one.

Jessie: A lot of people I know are talking about NVIDIA lately because their stock price shot up, like what, $200 this year already? It's crazy.

Jess: Yes.

Jessie: I made a TikTok before earnings got a lot, went a little viral, and there was a big debate in there.

Jess: Turns out I was right.

Jessie: Of course.

Jess: I was surprised.

Jessie: Surprised.

Jess: No, I literally said at the end of it.

Jessie: I don't know why everyone took it as such a bullish call.

Jess: I was giving the data and I was saying, this is very bullish.

Jessie: But I did say at the end, anything can happen with earnings.

Jess: Well, of course, but you do your homework and your research and you just follow the data and what's going on in the world.

Jessie: The trolls came in hard, but so you remember in our episode on investing in AI back in December.

Jess: I can't believe that was December.

Jessie: And we talked about NVIDIA being that really big player in AI because they make all the chips that's required for the AI models.

Jess: So yeah.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: They create the GPUs, right? And they're a big supplier of artificial intelligence hardware and software, right? Yeah, that's right.

Jessie: That's right.

Jess: And their earnings are telling us if that AI hype, if that demand is there, if it's very, very real, and it is so real.

Jessie: Everyone needs those chips.

Jess: And we look at NVIDIA.

Jessie: This is what I was looking for from the earnings specifically, is to see the demand pool.

Jess: Who is wanting to buy these chips? What companies? And a lot of it was actually Microsoft and Google and their competitors.

Jessie: They kind of rely on each other, which I think is really interesting.

Jess: But it's just an attestation that we are literally, literally just getting started with the AI revolution.

Jessie: I mean, I'm here for the revolution and I, for one, always talk very sweetly and nicely to the AI.

Jess: I know you do too.

Jessie: Let's get into some data.

Jess: What are the deets? Yes.

Jessie: Back to the niceness to AI though.

Jess: I did read this article where it was literally proven that if you say please and thank you, you get better outputs from ChatGPT.

Jessie: Oh yeah.

Jess: I bet.

Jessie: Like, I mean, I'm always going to be nice to it.

Jess: We're just polite people anyway, but I think it doesn't hurt just in case the AI uprising does happen.

Jessie: Yep.

Jess: They'll remember.

Jessie: They'll know.

Jess: They'll know who we are.

Jessie: They will.

Jess: But yes, data.

Jessie: So their revenue, these are crazy numbers, Jessie.

Jess: Even putting this together and looking through it, it explains their massive jump today.

Jessie: They're up $100 today.

Jess: Just crazy.

Jessie: But their- Video is? Yes.

Jess: They reported earnings last night after the bill.

Jessie: So we saw the movement today.

Jess: The numbers, their revenue was $22.1 billion for this quarter.

Jessie: We can't just say a big number.

Jess: We have to know what it is increasing year over year.

Jessie: That increase was 265%.

Jess: That's insane.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: Crazy.

Jess: Oh, crazy.

Jessie: But hold on.

Jess: There's more to spill.

Jessie: Yeah, there's more.

Jess: This tea is sizzling.

Jessie: It's brewing.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: It keeps coming.

Jess: It's overflowing.

Jessie: The net income was up 769%.

Jess: I almost didn't believe that number and I had to double check it with another source.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: That's crazy.

Jessie: Huge increase.

Jess: Wow.

Jessie: Huge, right? But they have the cards for AI training.

Jess: Everyone wants that.

Jessie: So they have the cards that are required and the chips required to make those models, then the chips that are required for the training.

Jess: And then they also released this, I think it's RTX or RDX card, where it's something that you can put onto Microsoft computers and you have your own chat GPT-like model that you don't need to connect to the internet and it only uses your data and that's going to be super cool.

Jessie: They released that.

Jess: Oh, I want that.

Jessie: Me too.

Jess: I'm already thinking of uses for that.

Jessie: Right? They just released that February 13th though, so we didn't get much indication of that, but then we might next earnings, so who knows.

Jess: But the CEO said, this is what the CEO said, quote, fundamentally, the conditions are excellent for continued growth, unquote, end quote, whatever it is.

Jessie: And Kramer, you know me, I love me some Kramer because he's a nice guy and I know this.

Jess: He's such a bad rep too.

Jessie: It doesn't make sense.

Jess: He's good.

Jessie: He's great.

Jess: He's great.

Jessie: You look up inverse Kramer ETF though, because everyone who loves to comment that when they see that I work with him or ever say his name, inverse Kramer ETF is down.

Jess: So quit saying that.

Jessie: He said that the CEO is a better visionary than Elon Musk.

Jess: Oh, well.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: I agree.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: At least more profitable.

Jessie: Correct.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: And Tesla has not done well.

Jess: They have not.

Jessie: So yeah.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: I would love to talk more about that, but that's more tea for another day.

Jess: So what do analysts do when results are that good? They raise the price targets.

Jessie: Okay.

Jess: Yep.

Jessie: The highest one.

Jess: $1,200.

Jessie: Insane.

Jess: For what? NVIDIA? Yep.

Jessie: Hold up.

Jess: What's the $1,200 price target? That's not how much the stock's going to go up.

Jessie: That's like the- That's, yeah.

Jess: No, that's what- What? That is.

Jessie: That's the highest price target.

Jess: So there are lots of analysts.

Jessie: That's the highest on there.

Jess: So when they raise it that much, what would potentially make the stock go down? If they didn't have the demand that's expecting.

Jessie: So now it's, you get into this euphoric phase, and if something happens that sends it down, it goes really quickly.

Jess: You know what I mean? Yeah.

Jessie: But this is one analyst.

Jess: Others are lower, but they keep raising the prices.

Jessie: And when they do this, it increases the divisor for the PE ratio, the price to earnings ratio, and it actually makes it more undervalued stock.

Jess: So even though the stock went up in price, it went down in terms of cheapness.

Jessie: It's still considered cheap due to its PE ratio, which is crazy.

Jess: Because they think it's going to be basically, sorry, even higher than that.

Jessie: Right.

Jess: It has high earnings potential and a low price in comparison to the earnings potential, even though it's expensive.

Jessie: Yeah, I know.

Jess: I really wish I would have thought this, but that's okay.

Jessie: I mean, it's crazy to me that this company, I did a little research, it's been around since 1993 with publicly traded stocks since like 1999, when it was only 82 cents per share.

Jess: And we didn't see that stock price really break into the hundreds until 2020.

Jessie: So I mean, I'm, again, just a little upset with myself for not buying these stocks sooner.

Jess: But now, this is why we're doing this podcast, so we understand how to do our research and how to look at the data and do the analysis and our homework.

Jessie: So we can see the potential of these companies, especially these tech companies that are making these important products that are really changing the world, really, when you think about it.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: I mean, anything born in the 80s and 90s, it's just really awesome.

Jess: Just going to put that out there.

Jessie: High growth.

Jess: High growth potential.

Jessie: You know, hindsight's always going to be 2020.

Jess: And this is, you're right, this is why it's important to understand it.

Jessie: Because even like today, you'd say, wow, this stock is $700, that's too expensive.

Jess: But now there's something called fractional shares.

Jessie: And from a valuation perspective, it's actually cheap in comparison to its historical average and others.

Jess: So you have to know how to look to see if something is a value from a price perspective.

Jessie: And it's not just dollars.

Jess: But we can do that.

Jessie: We're going to start analyzing stocks again.

Jess: And maybe we should start with Nvidia.

Jessie: That might be a good idea.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: But you know what? Hindsight's always 2020.

Jess: This stock, they also lost a lot in 2022.

Jessie: And I think that's a good point.

Jess: Because this stock has higher earnings growth.

Jessie: It has higher growth potential.

Jess: It moves quite a bit, like up $100 today.

Jessie: But that always means that there's more risk, more growth potential, more potential to the upside, more potential to the downside.

Jess: If anything goes wrong, that stock will fall hard, like Tesla did.

Jessie: Tesla fell very hard.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: Well, I think we need to see your AI portfolio.

Jess: Just for curiosity, not advice, just take a little peek-see.

Jessie: I mean, I'm definitely open to that.

Jess: But do you think we should have a whole series of episodes where we build AI portfolios and then check on them quarterly and just build up our investment thesis and look at it? Why not? Yes.

Jessie: I accept.

Jess: I think that would be great.

Jessie: I'm sure the listeners would love that too.

Jess: Give the people what they want.

Jessie: I'll give you what you want.

Jess: That'll be our poll.

Jessie: Please participate in Spotify.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: Let us know if you want that.

Jess: Do you want to look at Jess's AI portfolio? Should we build one together and do some research? Yes.

Jessie: Why not? All right.

Jess: So let's talk about what's going on with inflation now.

Jessie: And these companies that are making these record profits, are they going to either pay their employees more or come back down on their prices? What's going on with that? So we had an inflation price.

Jess: So we've actually had some really good data.

Jessie: We had six months of really good data where inflation was not increasing as much year over year.

Jess: So coming down is what we call it.

Jessie: We had a red hot report that spooked the market that was reporting on January.

Jess: So we're in February.

Jessie: So we'll report on the previous month.

Jess: So always a lag.

Jessie: And shelter was the problem in that report that spooked the market.

Jess: Shelter is a weird word.

Jessie: What does that mean? So that's the housing market.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: And specific, but specifically rents, right? And they rose 0.6%.

Jess: What's their rent? Like people's rent? Yeah.

Jessie: Okay.

Jess: Everything that's under the shelter piece.

Jessie: And 0.6%, you might be like, well, that's not even a whole percent.

Jess: That's not, it doesn't seem like that much, but it increased more than it did the previous month.

Jessie: And that's the wrong direction.

Jess: And if things go wrong, the wrong direction, then that could be concerning.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: Okay.

Jessie: Interest rates originally went up to try to bring inflation down, but we're not really seeing inflation go down enough now.

Jess: Right.

Jessie: When we are looking for inflation to come down, that really means prices are not increasing as much or as fast.

Jess: You want wages to increase more than inflation.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: That's the goal.

Jessie: And that means you'd have a real wage increase.

Jess: That's what you're looking for.

Jessie: That's what we mean by real wages is it's great that wages are going up, but if inflation is going up more than wages, then you actually didn't really get a raise.

Jess: But now wages are outpacing inflation and that's good.

Jessie: So both are increasing.

Jess: What is that according to like a jobs report or something? That's right.

Jessie: Yes.

Jess: There's a jobs report that comes out every week and then there's an employment that will talk about the costs.

Jessie: So interesting.

Jess: But, you know, we feel inflation on our everyday items, at the grocery store, at the pump.

Jessie: Cost prices, they definitely came down a lot and sometimes we focus on the negative rather than the positive.

Jess: I totally get that.

Jessie: I do that too.

Jess: True.

Jessie: But you don't feel the changes in the bigger items like home prices, rent, cars, because we don't purchase these every day.

Jess: True.

Jessie: We don't.

Jess: Now, I've seen something positive.

Jessie: There are two homes for sale in my neighborhood and one of them had a price drop and that's a very good sign in my opinion because I don't want to say exactly where I live, but it's one of those hot places, you know, and anything in my neighborhood is like a hot commodity and they would literally be on the market for a day, that's it.

Jess: And they'd get purchased well above the asking price, not price drops.

Jessie: I think that was happening on the West Coast for a while too and it seems like ...

Jess: I like to just, you know, I love to look at Zillow, I like to kind of look at things just to kind of dream a little bit.

Jessie: And I see prices like kind of dropping a little bit too, even out here.

Jess: I mean, they're still a lot higher out here, but yeah, I can see things coming down a little bit and the demand doesn't seem as like crazy as it was before.

Jessie: And that's a good thing.

Jess: It just takes a while for all of that to work through the system and the way the data's reporting, like Zillow's more real time and Fed policy takes a little bit to go through, especially houses because those aren't things that you buy every single day.

Jessie: So it takes a minute.

Jess: By a minute, we mean a long time.

Jessie: Even though rents went up, we're starting to see housing, hopefully, maybe starting to come down a little bit in terms of lease buying.

Jess: For rent to come down, it'll probably be a while before we see that.

Jessie: A lot of us signed 12-month contracts, so we're not going to see that in real time for our own lives for a while.

Jess: But was there any other good news about wages or anything else? Because I feel like good old Papa Powell is probably not happy with what's going on, like what the Fed has been trying to do with getting inflation to come down by raising interest rates.

Jessie: So what's going on? Hourly earnings increased, and they are increasing more than inflation.

Jess: That's good.

Jessie: Real average hourly earnings rose 1.4% from a year ago.

Jess: Very good.

Jessie: But this is where it gets really tough.

Jess: And mind you, the words that are about to come out of my mouth are how the stock market works, not a personal opinion.

Jessie: But if people have money, they tend to spend it.

Jess: We're getting a little bit more in a savings era, and I think that is beautiful.

Jessie: But people have money, they like to spend it, and we do not want to see an economy grow too fast.

Jess: It's moving in the right direction.

Jessie: This is great that real wages are positive, but we're at the end of a marathon.

Jess: I'm not worried yet.

Jessie: Housing is the last to change.

Jess: It just takes a while to work through the system.

Jessie: Stay with us.

Jess: We'll be right back.

Jessie: Ready to plug into the future? Join myself, Sean Leahy.

Jess: And me, Andrew Maynard.

Jessie: On Modem Futura, where we explore the technologies shaping our futures.

Jess: We bring the experts, the insights, and a whole lot of curiosity to every episode of Modem Futura as we boldly go where no one else has gone.

Jessie: So join us as we navigate the intersection of innovation and humanity, uncovering the stories that will define our collective futures.

Jess: Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts.

Jessie: We'll see you there.

Jess: See you then.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: Okay.

Jessie: Just real quick though, you said, so the hourly earnings are increased based on the jobs report, right? Mm-hmm.

Jess: So you're saying like an hourly, like is that for the whole nation, like on an average as a whole, we're seeing hourly rates increasing? Yes.

Jessie: You could break it down by sector.

Jess: Well, speaking of jobs, what happened there? So this also spooked the market.

Jessie: Lots of market spooking things before NVIDIA reported.

Jess: There were a lot more payroll employment than anticipated.

Jessie: So people who were added to payroll.

Jess: So more employment.

Jessie: And the stock market did not like that.

Jess: And you get into this weird state when the Fed is in this interest rate hiking cycle where you try to understand if good news is good news, or if bad news is good news, or if good news is bad news.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: Okay.

Jessie: Because, like an increase in jobs, that's good news because we want people to have jobs.

Jess: But that might mean, because people have jobs, there might be too much spending.

Jessie: And if there's spending and people are willing to pay higher prices, that will lead to higher inflation.

Jess: And if that leads to higher inflation, then the Fed might keep rates higher for longer or even increase them.

Jessie: So that good news has way worse bad news.

Jess: Okay.

Jessie: Well, that's definitely a tongue twister.

Jess: But at least we would have a better high-yield savings account rate, right? Yeah.

Jessie: There's a positive.

Jess: There's a silver lining.

Jessie: A silver lining.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: I like my above 5% HYSE rate that I've been getting.

Jess: So maybe we'll see those stick around a little bit longer because we were saying that those high-yield savings account interest rates might be coming down, but they'll probably stick around a little bit then, right? It seems like they are.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: All right.

Jessie: So what will Papa Powell, a.k.a.

Jess: the Fed, have to say about all of that? Yes.

Jessie: So Papa Powell is the Papa of the Fed Committee.

Jess: He's like the spokesperson.

Jessie: But they all vote.

Jess: It's like a little board.

Jessie: Literally a boring board.

Jess: Not boring.

Jessie: A board.

Jess: A board.

Jessie: A board.

Jess: Fun fact, when we formed our LLC for this podcast, we were told by our lawyers that we had to have board meetings.

Jessie: We call them exciting meetings because board meetings sound boring.

Jess: Anyways.

Jessie: We also have our annual meeting on the strawberry moon that is literally the full moon in our documents.

Jess: Yes.

Jessie: It's written in our contract.

Jess: It's legally required.

Jessie: We should do something for it this year.

Jess: We should.

Jessie: We should.

Jess: Maybe we'll have rosé with strawberries in it.

Jessie: Here for it.

Jess: It sounds appropriate.

Jessie: It does.

Jess: Anyway.

Jessie: So the committee, they didn't drastically change their stance, which is good.

Jess: There was one thing, though, that he said that I'm hanging onto, and I think it's odd that the market overreacted to this employment data because of this one statement.

Jessie: And I didn't see a lot of people even talk about it.

Jess: He does not need to see a decrease in employment or higher unemployment to say that we beat inflation.

Jessie: So the higher jobs, I think the market overreacted because there was a huge market sell-off.

Jess: And it was called an overreaction by one of the Fed members.

Jessie: They're like, the market's overreacting.

Jess: We were down 500 points.

Jessie: Oh.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: So they comment on the markets, too? Yeah.

Jess: So it's actually one of their other tools.

Jessie: They actually have three tools.

Jess: Raising interest rates or lowering them or quantitative tightening or easing is what it's called.

Jessie: That's their balance sheet.

Jess: We can get into that one another day.

Jessie: And the third is their mouth, what they say.

Jess: So I guess their words are pretty powerful, huh? They are, indeed.

Jessie: They can move markets.

Jess: And they do.

Jessie: Mm-hmm.

Jess: Well, any other Powell-flavored tea to spill that we should know about? Yeah.

Jessie: One more.

Jess: There was an indication that rates are not going to go any higher.

Jessie: They said rates have peaked.

Jess: So no more raising interest rates.

Jessie: We're done with that.

Jess: It seems.

Jessie: I mean, they leave it on the table, as in, like, if the data says this.

Jess: But it just was abundantly clear that was just hedging language.

Jessie: And so now we're focusing on, when will we start cutting them? That's what the market really, really wants.

Jess: They're data-dependent.

Jessie: They say that all the time.

Jess: And they're the one making the decisions.

Jessie: And that's why the market reacts a lot to economic data right there.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: All right.

Jess: Well, all that is very good to know.

Jessie: So I think now that we've gotten all that heavy stuff out of the way, and obviously, feel free to write us in any questions if any of that was unclear.

Jess: But it's time to have a little fun.

Jessie: So we've decided to introduce more fun to our stock market updates, right? As if they're not fun enough.

Jess: I mean, there could be more Taylor Swift references, always.

Jessie: OK.

Jess: Not that, Jess.

Jessie: No.

Jess: Oh, I'm using my whole name.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: You're in trouble, Jess.

Jess: No, Jess.

Jessie: But anyway, OK.

Jess: So we're going to give you some of the biggest headlines over the past month.

Jessie: The headlines are real.

Jess: The commentary is somewhat fictitious.

Jessie: But the sarcasm is real.

Jess: That was a disclosure.

Jessie: We're transparent like that.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: Brace yourselves.

Jessie: Brace yourselves.

Jess: NVIDIA has once again proved that it's not just a tech company, but a miracle worker, sending the S&P 500 and Dow to record highs.

Jessie: It's like that one group project where NVIDIA does all the work and the other stocks are just there for moral support.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: That's what happened.

Jess: That's not wrong.

Jessie: Other headlines.

Jess: Meanwhile, Wall Street is trying to dissect Fed Powell's comments.

Jessie: They're hanging on the words continued inclusive rate cuts.

Jess: If the switchies would just move from clowning on Cornelia Street to Wall Street, we would know when rate cuts will actually be happening.

Jessie: It literally never ends.

Jess: The Taylor Swift comments like never ends.

Jessie: In other news, S&P expects the U.S.

Jess: real GDP to grow by 2.4 percent in 2024.

Jessie: On related forecasts, I expect my New Year's resolutions to make it to February this year.

Jess: Actually, I already like failed dry January.

Jessie: So cheers.

Jess: Here we are.

Jessie: Yay.

Jess: That rise in GDP was probably due to Taylor Swift just saying.

Jessie: Ford and Tesla and Rivian stock investors, they received unfortunate news as Ford's latest update dragged everyone down.

Jess: It's like when your friend says we're leaving the party, but you're not ready to go.

Jessie: Now everyone's rating is dropping because they're nuts.

Jess: But side note, Rivian actually was already stumbling.

Jessie: They were hungover and they they really missed their earnings.

Jess: They did bad.

Jessie: Product of your surroundings, guys.

Jess: Should have taken a little more, drank a little more water, stayed hydrated.

Jessie: NVIDIA has dethroned Tesla as Wall Street's most traded stock.

Jess: The ceremony involved a crown, a scepter and Elon Musk in the background furiously tweeting about it like he does.

Jessie: I think you mean yeeting because, you know, it's called X now.

Jess: I really I want to get that in there.

Jessie: Yeeting.

Jess: Yes.

Jessie: And for those looking for love, Warren Buffett has some advice.

Jess: If you want a marriage to last, look for someone with low expectations.

Jessie: Wow.

Jess: It's a real headline.

Jessie: So if you're looking for investment advice or dating tips, Warren's your guy.

Jess: Imagine Warren Buffett on a dating show.

Jessie: He'd be great.

Jess: He's fan handing out financial advice instead of roses.

Jessie: He should be helping people pick out their.

Jess: It's like your date is picked out by Warren Buffett based on like your risk tolerance.

Jessie: I think that would be great.

Jess: I love the Golden Bachelor.

Jessie: Let's take it a whole nother level.

Jess: Imagine Warren Buffett, though.

Jessie: He'd be handing out financial advice instead of roses and be like, I'm so sorry.

Jess: Your expectations are way too high, but here's a stock tip instead.

Jessie: Can you just like give us one of the stocks or something that are doing well as like a consolation gift? That'd be great.

Jess: And remember, it's not about finding the perfect partner, but the one whose flaws you can profit from.

Jessie: Mm hmm.

Jess: Mm hmm.

Jessie: I can't believe that was a real headline.

Jess: I know.

Jessie: Yeah.

Jess: We had to do that.

Jessie: We had to do that.

Jess: All right.

Jessie: Let's wrap it up.

Jess: We hope you enjoyed our our new fun.

Jessie: If you didn't, we'll still probably do it.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: This show's going on anyway.

Jess: There's all the hot market gossip for you.

Jessie: Thanks for joining our mad tea party.

Jess: And don't forget to like, share, comment and subscribe so we can keep doing what we do.

Jessie: We've also added a listener support option in Spotify.

Jess: If you'd like to donate to our cause and help us fuel our mission of making relatable financial literacy available to everyone.

Jessie: Yes.

Jess: Please help us fuel our mission.

Jessie: Literally our morning mantras.

Jess: I literally, I love those reviews.

Jessie: They make my day.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: Feel free to submit a question.

Jess: I've really been loving those Q&As.

Jessie: Thank you for that.

Jess: Leave us a review or your feedback.

Jessie: Send us a joke in the comments.

Jess: Make us laugh.

Jessie: It makes our day.

Jess: Keep us going.

Jessie: Tell us a little fun fact about Warren Buffett or someone else in finance if you got it.

Jess: Yeah.

Jessie: We'll take it.

Jess: And remember, when you build knowledge, you break barriers.

Jessie: Remember investing involves risk.

Jess: There is always potential to lose money when investing in securities.

Jessie: Market MakeHer provides educational content and resources for informational purposes only.

Jess: We are.