Weekly Investor – July 19, 2021
S&P Ends Down for the Week
The S&P 500® Index closed at an all-time high on Monday but traded lower for the rest of the week, ending in a 1.0% decline. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was released during the week with inflation numbers above expectations, causing jitters in the market. Debate continues over how much of the inflation the economy is seeing is temporary or sustained. Coupled with those concerns are possible actions on the part of the Federal Reserve which may slow inflation, but could also slow economic growth. In other news, OPEC+ struck an oil production deal after a standoff between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Oil closed near multi-year highs on Tuesday, but fell after the deal was struck, to close the week at $71.81 a barrel.
Earnings season began in earnest last week after the five largest U.S. banks announced quarterly results. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corporation, Wells Fargo & Company, Citigroup Inc. and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. all reported strong quarterly results and offered outlooks that continue to show a strong U.S. economy. Looking ahead to this week, earnings season is scheduled to continue as bellwether names such as The Coca-Cola Company, Intel Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Netflix, Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., are expected to report quarterly results.
The S&P 500 Index was down 1.0% for the week. Its top-performing sectors were Utilities (2.6%) and Consumer Staples (1.2%), while the bottom-performing sectors were Consumer Discretionary (-2.6%) and Energy (-7.7%). In the fixed-income market, the 10-year Treasury yield was lower, ending at 1.3%.
We continue to seek companies that reflect our Change-BasedSM investment approach.
Change Based Investment
The Boeing Company designs, manufactures, sells, services and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight and launch systems worldwide. The company was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
As the world economy begins to reopen both from vaccine roll-outs and aggressive government stimulus, we believe Boeing is uniquely positioned to benefit from that change. Boeing and Airbus split the worldwide commercial aerospace market. Pent up demand for travel from people across the globe, who have been shut in for over a year, should drive demand for Boeing’s aircraft making the stock a compelling addition to Argent’s Change-BasedSM investment approach.
Top 5 Equity Holdings
Large Cap Growth
| Alphabet, Inc.(Google) | 7.8% |
| Target Corporation | 7.0% |
| Apple, Inc. | 6.5% |
| Danaher Corporation | 5.5% |
| Mastercard Incorporated | 4.9% |
Small Cap Core
| Fortinet, Inc. | 4.7% |
| Medpace Holdings, Inc. | 4.6% |
| OneMain Holdings, Inc. | 4.5% |
| Select Medical Holdings | 3.1% |
| FirstService Corporation | 3.0% |
Dividend Select
| Target Corporation | 7.1% |
| Microsoft Corporation | 6.1% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 5.3% |
| Life Storage, Inc. | 4.2% |
| Eaton Corporation Plc | 4.1% |
Mid Cap
| Zebra Technologies Corp. | 4.5% |
| Cintas Corporation | 4.0% |
| CDW Corporation | 3.9% |
| Marvell Technology, Inc. | 3.8% |
| Charles River Lab. Intl. | 3.0% |
This newsletter presents selected recommendations from portfolio managers of Argent Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. Opinions reflect the portfolio manager’s judgment on the date above and are subject to change. A list of stocks recommended by Argent is available upon request. You should not assume that these recommendations are or will be profitable. In the course of it’s business, Argent’s client accounts may be buying and selling these stocks.
