• Sales of previously owned homes hit the lowest level since 1995 for the second year in a row, down a third from 2021. The median price in December was $404,400, up 6% from December 2023 but down from the June peak of $426,900. 1
• The U.S. now has 48 tech firms earning over $1 billion each, while the rest of the entire world only has 35. This is one reason why the U.S. equity and bond markets total $79 trillion, 8 times larger than the next biggest market. 2
• In 2024, 60% of the $6.75 trillion federal budget went to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Interest on the national debt and defense spending together represented another 26%. That left only around 13% for discretionary nondefense spending. 3
• Megacap tech firms drove most of the S&P 500's 70% rise over the past two years. However, profits for the top seven tech firms (Mag 7) are expected to grow at just 22% in the most recent quarter (down from 51% in Q1) and have the smallest increase since early 2023. *4

1. WSJ - "U.S. Homes Sales in 2024 Fell to Lowest Level in Nearly 30 Years"
2. The Irrelevant Investor- "USA, Inc Our Markets Are the Envy of the World"
3. Barrons - "High Interest Rates Are Hammering Investors. What Lies Ahead Could Be Worse."
4. Bloomberg - "Tech’s $15 Trillion Rally Hinges on High-Stakes Earnings Stretch"

*Past performance is not indicative of future performance

Economic Calendar

Monday:

New home sales (Dec)

Tuesday:

Durable-goods orders (Dec), Durable-goods minus transportation (Dec), S&P Case-Shiller home price index (20 cities) (Nov), Consumer confidence (Jan)

Wednesday:

Advanced U.S. trade balance in goods (Dec), Advanced retail inventories (Dec), Advanced wholesale inventories (Dec), FOMC interest-rate decision, Fed Chair Powell press conference

Thursday:

GDP (Q1), Initial jobless claims (Jan), Pending home sales (Dec)

Friday:

Fed Gov. Michelle Bowman speaks, Employment cost index (Q4), Personal income (nominal) (Dec), Personal spending (nominal) (Dec), PCE index (Dec), PCE (year-over-year), Core PCE index (Dec), Core PCE (year-over-year), Chicago Business Barometer (PMI) (Jan)

Upcoming Earnings Calls

Monday - T, BRO, NUE, WRB, SOFI

Tuesday - SAP, RTX, SYK, BA, LMT

Wednesday - MSFT, META, TSLA, NOW, IBM

Thursday- AAPL, V, MA, TMO, SHEL

Friday - XOM, ABBV, CVX, NVS, ETN

Client Focused Trading® for large institutions, pensions, hedge funds, wealthy families, and private equity for over 30 years.

Glen Eagle Wealth, LLC is a member FINRA and SIPC

This desk commentary is for informational purposes only

Carol Ann Fernandez

Rob Michel

Grier Vacek

Glen Eagle Wealth, LLC

4422C Route 27

PO Box 399

Kingston, NJ 08528

(609) 631-8231