Fast Money Blog- 1/12/24

The big news on Wall Street came on Thursday, January 11th, when the Dow reacted sharply to December’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.  The data showed that consumer prices in December rose 3.4% over the prior year, an increase from the 3.1% increase seen the month prior.

However, keep in mind that after stripping out volatile food and fuel prices to get a sense of the underlying inflation trend, “core” inflation climbed only 3.9% in the year through December, down from 4% in November. This marked the first time the core index has dropped below 4% since May of 2021.

What does all this economic data mean?

If you are a long-term shareholder in Alphabet, Inc. (GOOG), Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST), The Home Depot, Inc. (HD) and/or Apple, Inc. (AAPL), the truth is the data does not mean much.

As you know we are approaching the Q4 earnings season and over the next 30 days we will be able to separate the “good dates” from the “bad dates". That is to say, we will know which companies we will continue to invest in for the long-term and which companies we will be letting go of.

On another note, over the last 10 trading days you may have noticed that Apple stock has been downgraded by several prominent Wall Street firms.

The reason Wall Street is concerned about Apple, is because the company seems to be falling behind in innovation.  Typically a lack of innovation has been associated with quarterly revenue declines.  Of course when revenues decline, a tech company’s stock price generally falls.

As we come into earnings I will keep you posted on Apple’s revenue data and the company’s prominence in today’s technological environment.

Stay open and stay positive, as we head towards earnings season.

Tyrone Jackson, The Wealthy Investor