Morning News: January 16, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 16th, 2025 at 7:07 am

The Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal and What Comes Next

Brazil’s Economic Activity Downshifts as Key Rate Goes Higher

Why Latest US Sanctions on Russian Oil Are a Big Deal

Canada Readies Tariffs on $105 Billion of US Products If Trump Hits First

Biden Cites Threat From ‘Extreme Wealth’ in Farewell Address

‘Making The World a Better Place’ Is So Last Year

Eight Years of Populism Hasn’t Gotten America Very Far

H-1B Clash Exposes a Tough Choice for Trump: MAGA or Musk

Hegseth and Rubio Show Substance Won’t Win in Trump’s Cabinet

The Inflation Genie Is Moving to the White House

Trump Faces a Powerful Check on His Power: Bond Vigilantes

US Bond ‘Death Spiral’ Risk Brushed Aside by Foreign Funds

Morgan Stanley Profit Doubles as Stock Traders Notch Big Beat

Time Is Running Out to Recover Up to $135 Billion in Pilfered Jobless Benefits

TSMC’s Upbeat Outlook Fuels Hopes for 2025 AI Spending

Zuckerberg’s Aggressive Return to Political Debate Raises Stakes for Meta

Apple in Talks with Barclays, Synchrony to Replace Goldman in Credit Card Deal

On TikTok, Users Thumb Their Noses at Looming Ban

BP to Eliminate About 5% of Workforce to Cut Costs, CEO Says

What to Know About the E.V. Tax Credit That Trump Might Repeal

Why the FDA Finally Banned a Cancer-Linked Food Dye

UnitedHealth Revenue Falls Short, Sending Shares Lower

Walgreens Replaced Fridge Doors With Smart Screens. It’s Now a $200 Million Fiasco

Young Americans Are Drinking Less—But Can It Last?

It’s a Good Time to Be Making Mocktails

Cartier Owner Richemont’s Sales Beat Buoys Luxury Stocks

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Morning News: January 15, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 15th, 2025 at 7:05 am

South Korean President Yoon Arrested Over Martial Law Fiasco

Economy May Grow 20% With Female Participation, World Bank Says

Nigeria Inflation Rate at Near 29-Year High Before Data Overhaul

US Inflation Data to Remain Firm, Feeding Fears of Higher Rates

Russell Vought Poised to Expand Power of White House Budget Office

How Scott Bessent Won Over MAGA and Wall Street

Mister C.E.O. Goes to Washington

Goldman Surpasses Estimates as Stock Traders Score Record Haul

JPMorgan Traders Notch Record Fourth Quarter on Election Swings

Who Will Succeed Jamie Dimon? The List of Contenders Narrows.

Wells Fargo Takes $647 Million Severance Charge as Expenses Cut

BNY Fourth-Quarter Profit Rises on Boost from Higher Fee Income

BlackRock Assets Hit Record $11.6 Trillion in Fourth Quarter

U.S. Watchdog Sues Capital One, Alleging Bank Cheated Customers Out of $2 Billion

Economic Toll of Los Angeles Fires Goes Far Beyond Destroyed Homes

Panama Wants to Preserve U.S. Alliance, but Trump Could Push It Closer to China

Trump’s Folly? Greenland for Critical Minerals Is Utter Nonsense

How Long Can Toyota Put Off Figuring Out EVs?

Retailers Helped Fuel an EV Charging Station Blitz

GM Signs Multibillion-Dollar Deal for Supply of EV Battery Materials

US Aims to Tighten Flow of TSMC and Samsung Chips to China

Musk Accused by SEC of Cheating Twitter Investors Out of Millions

EU Tech Advocates Call for Greater Self-Reliance With EuroStack

Albertsons Shouldn’t Make the Same Mistake as Walmart

Why Costco Isn’t Joining the Backlash Against DEI

How a Company Makes Millions Off a Hospital Program Meant to Help the Poor

The Swiss Sneaker Brand Outrunning Nike and Adidas

Thailand’s Lower House Passes Bill to Free Up Liquor Production

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CWS Market Review – January 14, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 14th, 2025 at 6:22 pm

(This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

One hundred and fifty years ago today, Congress passed the Specie Resumption Act. This act put the country back on the gold standard. The idea of the act was to get everything back to normal following the hectic and inflationary policies of the Civil War. I can’t help but think of the similarities between that era and today.

When you’re at war, anything not directly related to the war effort gets tossed aside, and that includes fiscal discipline. For them, it was a war; for us, it was a pandemic. During the Civil War, the government stopped paying gold or silver in exchange for currency. Instead, it started printing greenbacks which weren’t backed by anything.

Now that the war was over (we won), Congress wanted to get back to exchanging gold or silver for dollars, hence the name Specie Resumption. I bring this up not to do a lesson on economic history but to show the centrality of inflation’s role in our economic life.

Tomorrow, the government will release the CPI report for December, and I’m concerned that it will show more evidence that inflation isn’t melting away. The consensus on Wall Street is that consumer prices rose by 0.3% last month. The Street also expects an increase of 0.3% for core prices.

The funny thing is that if any of the politicians who debated the act in 1875 were magically transported to our time, they certainly would be astounded by many things in our modern age, yet they would largely understand our current monetary predicament. They had a war. We had a pandemic. They printed greenbacks. We let inflation fly, and now we’re trying to reel it back in, and that’s proving to be more difficult than we thought.

The damage of inflation stings. Consider that over the three-year period covering 2022, 2023 and 2024, the S&P 500 gained 29.3%, not counting dividends.

Inflation, however, increased by 13.2%, and that doesn’t include the final month of 2024. We’ll get the data tomorrow. In simple terms, inflation ate up nearly half the market’s profits over the last three years. It’s like having a silent partner who takes half your winnings, before taxes.

Investors in the 1970s certainly recall how troubling inflation can be. In fact, it was 50 years ago tomorrow that President Gerald Ford began his State of the Union Address by saying, “The state of the union is not good. Millions of Americans are out of work. Recession and inflation are eroding the money of millions more. Prices are too high, and sales are too low.”

Incidentally, this is a big time of year for gold-related milestones. (Hat tip to my friend Gary Alexander who is a fountain of market history.) In January 1975, gold was finally legalized for Americans to own, and it was 45 years ago, in January 1980, that gold peaked at $850 per ounce.

In the 1964 film, Goldfinger, Auric Goldfinger planned to irradiate all the gold in Fort Knox thus increasing the value of his gold. He would have been a lot better off doing nothing since gold increased dramatically over the next 16 years.

The 1980 gold rally was extreme. Adjusted for inflation, gold was going for over $3,400 per ounce. This was the time when the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the world silver market. In real terms, gold has lost more than 20% of its value over the last 40 years. If you had paid $25 for an ounce of gold instead of $850, you still would have lost to the dividend-adjusted S&P 500.

Twenty-five years ago, the Dow peaked at 11,723. It wouldn’t top that for another seven years. Still, the market is up fourfold in 25 years. Gold has endless appeal for some investors, but for the long run, I’m on the side of stocks.

Strong Jobs Report

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that the U.S. economy created 256,000 nonfarm payrolls last month. That was well above Wall Street’s forecast for a gain of 155,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate fell by 0.1% to 4.1%. The jobless rate has been below 4.3% for the last 38 months in a row. The economy also added 212,000 net new jobs in November. Last year, the U.S. economy added over 2.2 million jobs. The broader U-6 measure of joblessness fell by 0.2% to 7.5%.

Here are some details from the report.

Job growth came from the familiar sources of health care (up 46,000), leisure and hospitality (43,000), and government (33,000).

Retail also saw a sizeable gain, up 43,000 after losing 29,000 in November heading into the holiday shopping season. The sector saw payroll growth of 2.2 million for the full year, down sharply from the 3 million gain in 2023.

Revisions for prior months were less substantial than has been the recent trend. The October count saw an upward change of 7,000 to 43,000, while the November number was cut by 15,000 from the prior estimate.

The household report showed that full-time jobs increased by 87,000, and part-time jobs rose by 247,000.

Thanks to the strong jobs report, the bond market got knocked down. In two days, the yield on the two-year Treasury rose 13 basis points. The yield on the 10-year Treasury is up over 100 basis points in four months, and it’s at its highest yield since late 2023. The 2/10 Spread just hit a 2.5-year high.

On Tuesday, we learned that producer prices rose 3.3% over the last year. That’s the steepest increase in nearly two years.

You can expect the Fed to take a breather later this month. The odds for another rate cut are now around 2%, and for March, the odds are at about 22%.

The jobs report was a classic good news/bad market event. Higher jobs growth means there’s no need to cut rates, and stocks don’t like that.

Thanks to a late-day rally, the S&P 500 closed higher today, but earlier in the day, the index was on pace for its lowest close in over two months. The S&P 500 recently dipped below its 100-day moving average, and since the end of the third quarter, the stock market has gained just 1.4%.

That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

P.S. I was recently on the “We Study Billionaires” podcast with Clay Finck. I had a lot of fun. Check it out.

Morning News: January 14, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 14th, 2025 at 7:04 am

China’s Central Bank Reiterates Easing Pledges Amid Policy Dilemmas

In Global Market Rout, Britain Is the ‘Weakest Link’

The World’s Benchmark Interest Rate May Be Higher Into the 2030s

Trump Team Studies Gradual Tariff Hikes Under Emergency Powers

Yellen Leaves Legacy of Alliances That Trump Is Threatening to Torch

Inflation Could Derail Trump 2.0 Before It Starts

Trump Team Eyes Gradual Tariffs to Contain Economic Fallout

The Trump Trade Looks Like a Trap

Traders Brace for S&P 500’s Busiest CPI Day Since March 2023

At Charles Schwab, a Fresh Start After a Close Call

Banks Claim They’re Still in the Climate Fight. Are They?

LA Wildfires Losses Could Top $30 Billion for Insurance Industry

Centrist Politicians Don’t Get That Immigration Is Like Trade

Biden’s Push to Cancel Student Debt Surpasses 5 Million Borrowers

Balance of Power Shifts Back Toward Bosses

So Long, Net Neutrality, and Good Riddance

TikTok Refugees Push China’s Xiaohongshu to Global Prominence

China Weighs Sale of TikTok US to Musk as a Possible Option

Biden Toughens China Curbs With AI Order, Smart Car Tech Ban

‘The New York Times’ Takes OpenAI to Court. ChatGPT’s Future Could Be On the Line

Billionaire Steve Feinberg, Master of Cerberus, Gets a New Mission for Trump

How Online Gambling Unleashed Transnational Crime on the Philippines

DirecTV Launches Sports Subscription With NFL, Other Big Leagues

JD Sports Shares Sink to Four-Year Lows After Guidance Cut

Why Adults Are Hitting the Arcade in Search of a $3,600 Hermès Bag

Versace Is the Wrong Fit for Prada’s Ambitions

Why a Radical Retail Experiment Worked for Abercrombie and Barnes & Noble

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Morning News: January 13, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 13th, 2025 at 7:05 am

Chinese Trade Surplus Soars to $1 Trillion Ahead of Trump Return

China Policy Focus to Shift More to Consumption, PBOC’s Pan Says

Israel Raised Record Amount of Bonds Last Year to Pay For War

Oil Hits Five-Month High as US Sanctions on Russia Menace Supply

US Reliance on Saudi Oil Is Nearing Its Endgame

Colombia’s Bold Push to Go Green Has an Unintended Trade Off: Gas Imports

ECB Must Find ‘Middle Path’ on Rate Cuts, Chief Economist Says

Treasuries Selloff Ripples Through World Markets After Jobs Data

Global Bond Tantrum Is a Wrenching and Worrisome Start to New Year

Doubting America Can Still Cost You a Lot of Money

Why 2025 May Be the Year of Common Sense

A US Hedge Fund Put UK Trusts on Notice. Good.

Ackman’s Pershing Square Proposes Merger With Howard Hughes

Inside Elon Musk’s Plan for DOGE to Slash Government Costs

How Unauthorized Immigrants Help Finance Social Security Benefits

iPhone Sales Drop 5% in Holiday Quarter After AI Disappoints

Biden Administration Adopts Rules to Guide A.I.’s Global Spread

OpenAI Courts Trump With Vision for ‘A.I. in America’

Getty and Shutterstock Take on Uncertain AI Future Together

Why AI Investors Should Worry About the Self-Driving Car Crash

Japan Fires Starting Gun on Global Wave of Auto Mergers

BMW Sales Fell in 2024 on Technical Issues, Weak China Demand

JPMorgan Hosts First Major Healthcare Gathering Since Death of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO

J&J to Acquire Intra-Cellular for About $14.6 Billion

Moderna Cuts Sales View on Slow Demand for Covid, RSV Shots

America’s Bourbon Boom Is Over. Now the Hangover Is Here.

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Morning News: January 10, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 10th, 2025 at 7:01 am

China’s Wobbly Economy Faces New Threat From Pensions Boycott

China’s Central Bank Stops Buying Bonds as Deflation Fears Grip Economy

Brazil Inflation Ticks Down But Ends 2024 Well Above Target

Supreme Court Allows Trump Sentencing in NY Hush Money Case

Beleaguered US Bond Market Looks to Jobs Report for Reprieve

The Fed Is in No Rush to Cut Rates, Even if There Is a Weak Jobs Report

Who’s Afraid of Rising Treasury Yields? Not Stocks

Bankers Hope for IPO Revival in 2025 as High-Profile Listings Stack Up

Deutsche Bank Tweaks Bonuses to Emphasize Metrics Like Teamwork

Economists Are in the Wilderness. Can They Find a Way Back to Influence?

Meet Trump’s Economic Whisperers

Politics, Not Climate, to Drive Sustainable Finance Trends in 2025

How Trump Came Around to Crypto—and What Crypto Wants in Return

Political Sway of the Rich Seen as Main Driver of Inequality, Pew Survey Finds

U.S. Mortgage Rates Climb to Highest Since July

L.A. Wildfires Lay Bare an Insurance Crisis

As Los Angeles Fires Burn, Residents Turn to Nonprofit Watch Duty

A New World for Facebook and Instagram: Zuckerberg’s Splinternet

He Built Russia’s Biggest Tech Company. Now He’s Starting Over—Without Putin

Constellation Energy to Acquire Calpine for $16.4 Billion

Toxic Traces of Lead Mining in Missouri Are Hard to Erase

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to Debut New Rocket in SpaceX Challenge

TikTok Supreme Court Clash Pits Free Speech Against US Security

If TikTok Is Banned, Can I Still Use It?

Delta Tops Estimates on Demand for Overseas, Business Travel

Mercedes-Benz Car Sales Fell 3% in 2024 Amid Challenging Market

Why Food Companies Want Consumers to Buy More of Everything

Why General Manager Is the Hottest Job in College Sports

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Morning News: January 9, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 9th, 2025 at 7:05 am

A Sinkhole Is Threatening to Consume Ecuador’s Main Source of Power

Mexico’s Annual Inflation Hits Lowest Level Since Early 2021

UK Market Selloff Deepens With Pound Falling to Lowest in Year

Why Close Trade Partners China and Japan Can’t Get Along

China’s DeepSeek Shows Why Trump’s Trade War Will Be Hard to Win

Bankers Need the Right Trump Outcome to Justify Stock Optimism

Banks Are Racking Up Wins Even Before Trump Is Back in White House

Rate-Cut Decision Was Narrow, Fed Minutes Show

Fed Finds New Reason for Confidence in Obscure Inflation Gauge

The Stock Market is at the Same Valuation As When Greenspan Made His ‘Irrational Exuberance’ Comment

What the Latest Bonds Selloff Could Mean for Your Money

Wall Street Job Losses May Top 200,000 as AI Replaces Roles

How Analyst Job Cuts on Wall Street Are Reshaping Equity Research

FTC’s Khan Urges Agency to ‘Stay Aggressive’ After She Goes

Biden Administration Ignites Firestorm With Rules Governing A.I.’s Global Spread

Los Angeles Fires Become Existential Test for California’s Stopgap Insurer

Powerful Labor Group Joins A.F.L.-C.I.O. Ahead of New Trump Era

US Dockworkers, Employers Reach Deal to Avert Strike

Warehouse Leasing Prices Are Holding Up Despite Declining Demand

How Employee Referrals for Tech Jobs Became a Side Hustle

Meta’s Disinterest in Fact Checking Will Change the Internet

TikTok Stars and Marketers Brace for App’s Disappearance This Month

TikTok Case Before Supreme Court Pits National Security Against Free Speech

How Trump Could Vaporize 40% of Tesla’s Profits

Self-Driving Cars Don’t Do Snow. Goodyear Says the Solution Is Smarter Tires.

Inside the American Airlines Campaign to Win Back Business Travelers

US ‘Notorious Markets’ Report Warns of Risks from Online Pharmacies

As Art Sales Fall, Auction Houses Pivot to Luxury

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Morning News: January 8, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 8th, 2025 at 7:03 am

India Fixing Record Trade Deficit After Overstating Gold Imports

Markets Sound Alarm Over Deflationary Spiral in China

What to Know About BRICS and Its Growing Clout

Eurozone Business Confidence Declines Again, Dragged by Industry

Musk Takes Slash-and-Burn Style to Europe After Bolstering Trump

Musk Escalates Fight With EU Over Free Speech, Election Fairness

Under Trump, More Countries Could Get Nukes

Tax Cuts or the Border? Republicans Wrestle Over Priorities.

Trump Trade Team Set for Wild Ride as Boss Floats Denmark Levies

Beaten-Down European Stocks Lure Investors Back as Trump Trades Wobble

Last Time Bond Yields Surged Like This, Stock Markets Sank

Bond-Yield Breakout Is Much More Than Inflation

Amundi’s Bond Chief Says US 10-Year Yield Can Exceed 5% Again

Ackman Chases 1,200% Profit on Trump Trade That’s Far From Over

More Companies Are Buying Bitcoin, Betting on Rewards Over Risks

Venture Capital Needs a New Math. Try This Formula.

Tencent Makes Biggest Buyback Since 2006 After US Blacklist

Meet the Next Fact-Checker, Debunker and Moderator: You

Mark Zuckerberg’s Political Evolution, From Apologies to No More Apologies

Be Wary of Sam Altman’s AI Doublespeak

The US Government Is Sitting on a Possible Solution to the Housing Crisis

Shell Warns of Significantly Lower Integrated Gas Earnings, Cuts Production Guidance

Toyota Takes Aim at SpaceX With Investment in Rocket Startup

An Offsets Rumble in the Jungle

Chick-fil-A’s Lemon-Squeezing Robots Are Saving 10,000 Hours of Work

New Warnings About Alcohol Hit Restaurants at a Tricky Time

Former MoviePass Executive Pleads Guilty to Fraud Over ‘Unlimited’ Plan

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CWS Market Review – January 7, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 7th, 2025 at 6:17 pm

(This is the free version of CWS Market Review. If you like what you see, then please sign up for the premium newsletter for $20 per month or $200 for the whole year. If you sign up today, you can see our two reports, “Your Handy Guide to Stock Orders” and “How Not to Get Screwed on Your Mortgage.”)

The stock market has started off the new year a bit more cautious than it was last year. The S&P 500 fell for five days in a row before it rallied last Friday. The index has now gone one month without making a new high. Of course, this is fairly normal market behavior, but it’s markedly different from what we experienced last year. In 2024, the S&P 500 made 57 record highs.

During December, growth stocks strongly outpaced value stocks. This was probably in anticipation of the Federal Reserve dialing back its plans to lower interest rates. During the final trading week of the year, value stocks started to improve somewhat in relative terms, but that came to a halt with the new year. Growth stocks have again been leading value.

Earnings Season Starts Next Week

The next big test for the market will be Q4 earnings season which is set to begin soon. Next Wednesday, January 15, is the unofficial start to earnings season. That’s when several of the major banks, like JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are due to report.

Note that companies tend to report their Q4 earnings a bit later than their other quarters. I suppose it takes a little more time to compute their full-year results.

Wall Street currently expects the S&P 500 to report Q4 earnings growth of 8.81%. That’s down some from last month when expectations were for 9.02% growth. Within the index, the increases have been among consumer staples and consumer discretionaries. The lower estimates have been among industrials.

At the end of the month, the government will release its first estimates for Q4 GDP growth. The Atlanta Fed’s GDP Now model currently expects growth of 2.4% for Q4 (that’s annualized and adjusted for inflation). That sounds about right. What’s interesting is that it wasn’t too long ago that many folks on Wall Street assumed that we’d be mired in a recession by 2024, but it looks like we avoided one.

There’s more data to come this week. Tomorrow we’ll get the ADP payroll report and Wall Street doesn’t expect much. The consensus is for a gain of 136,000 private sector jobs.

The stock market will be closed on Thursday in honor of President Carter’s funeral. On Friday, we’ll get the official January jobs report from the Labor Department. The consensus is for a gain of 155,000 nonfarm payrolls. I think the market is being modest with its expectations. Economists also expect the unemployment rate to stay at 4.2%. Historically speaking, that’s still quite low.

I’m particularly concerned with wages. The consensus expects average hourly earnings to have increased by 0.3% last month and for a 12-month gain of 4%. Frankly, that needs to improve. Wages are rising faster than inflation, but not by much. Wage gains are future revenue for businesses.

Next week, on January 15, we’ll also get the CPI report for December. This could be an important announcement. While the Fed has been largely successful in battling inflation, it hasn’t won the war just yet. Inflation is proving to be very stubborn. In fact, inflation has accelerated very slightly over the last few months. In other words, not only are prices rising but the pace of those increases has been rising.

Where does this leave the Federal Reserve? Well, that’s a good question. The Fed meets again in three weeks, and it’s looking like the Fed is going to pause on its rate hikes. I can’t blame them. Housing inflation is especially concerning.

According to traders, the Fed will pause next week, and there’s a better than even chance that it also pauses at the following two meetings, in March and May. That means the Fed may not cut rates again until the middle of the year. This is a major change from a few weeks ago, and it’s why I think growth stocks have been doing so well.

Today, President-elect Donald Trump announced a $20 billion foreign investment to build new data centers in the United States. The money will be put up by Hussain Sajwani, the founder of DAMAC Properties. Trump added that Sajwani could double that figure or go even higher.

From CNBC:

The “first phase” of the plan will take place in Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, Trump said.

Sajwani suggested that the Republican’s election spurred him to commit to the investment.

“It’s been amazing news for me and my family when [Trump] was elected in November. We’ve been waiting four years to increase our investment in [the] U.S. to very large amounts of money,” the Dubai developer said in brief remarks at Mar-a-Lago.

Sajwani’s pledge is the latest example of a foreign business leader promising to spend big in the U.S. as a result of Trump’s victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

Last month, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son announced plans to invest $100 billion in America and create 100,000 jobs over the course of Trump’s four-year term.

Speaking of data centers, I can’t help noticing that IES Industries (IESC), one of our new stocks on the Buy List, got off to a strong start this year. At one point earlier today, IESC was up more than 23% on the year.

The company “designs and installs integrated electrical and technology systems and provides infrastructure products and services to a variety of end markets, including data centers, residential housing, and commercial and industrial facilities.”

We shouldn’t celebrate too soon. IESC closed lower today even though it was higher this morning. That’s the thing about investing in growth stocks: the good times are great, and the bad times are terrible.

Stepan Hits a New 52-Week Low

Recently shares of Stepan (SCL) reached a new 52-week low. With most stocks, that’s disconcerting news, but with a company like Stepan, it grabs my interest. Bear in mind that Stepan has increased its dividend every year for the last 57 years.

Stepan is a special chemical market. I know, super boring, but they make stuff that people need. Stepan makes basic and intermediate chemicals, including surfactants, specialty products, phthalic anhydride and polyurethane polyols.

Surfactants are used in cleaning agents and consumer products like detergents, toothpaste, and cosmetics.

Stepan’s surfactants also have commercial and industrial applications ranging from emulsifiers for agricultural insecticides to agents used in oil recovery. The company also makes phthalic anhydride and other polymers for food and pharmaceutical uses.

Stepan had a strong Q3 earnings report. For the quarter, Stepan made $1.03 per share which was far ahead of Wall Street’s estimate for 65 cents per share.

President and CEO Luis E. Rojo said, “Team Stepan delivered a solid quarter despite significant challenges. Third quarter adjusted EBITDA grew double digits driven by the Surfactant and Specialty Product businesses. Surfactants continued its volume recovery and experienced double-digit volume growth within the Agricultural, Oilfield and the Construction and Industrial Solutions end markets and also with our Distribution partners.”

For this year, Wall Street expects Stepan to make $4 per share. That’s based on only three analysts. Even if that is correct, it means that Stepan is going for less than 16 times this year’s earnings.

In October, Stepan raised its quarterly dividend by one penny to 38.5 cents per share. That was its 57th annual dividend increase in a row. The dividend currently yields 2.4%. I wouldn’t say that Stepan is a fast-grower, but it’s a conservative stock with a long-term track record.

That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

Morning News: January 7, 2025
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 7th, 2025 at 7:03 am

Eurozone Inflation Climbs Further Above ECB Target

French Banks Face Crucial Year After Falling Behind Peers

Canada Tilts Right: Inflation Claims Trudeau as Its Latest Victim

Trudeau’s Climate Legacy

Why Would Trump Buy Greenland When He Can Rent It?

Fed Vice Chair Says He’s Leaving Role Early to Avoid Fight With Trump

Trump’s SEC Pick Likely to Give Wall Street Easier Enforcement Ride

Unable to Protect Consumers, the CFPB Scapegoats the Banks

Medical Debt Soon Will Be Banned on Credit Reports

Credit Markets Signal Warning for a Relentless Equity Rally

Markets Better Get Used to Trump’s Manic Mondays

Bitcoin Is Not a Nothing, But Not a Something Either

This Fund Manager Forecast a 20% S&P 500 Gain Last Year. Now He Says Cash Is King.

Robots Fill Workforce Gap in Korea’s Aging Society

Google’s Most Serious Rival Isn’t Microsoft. It’s a Startup.

Apple Faces Tough January as China Weakness, Tariff Risks Weigh

Meta Moves to End Fact-Checking Program

The Next Chapter in the Amazon-Trump Reset

Pentagon Adds Chinese Social Media Giant to Military Blacklist

What Happens When TikTok’s Trend Machine Shuts Down?

Nvidia Unveils Gaming Chips, Desktop PC to Protect AI Lead

U.S. Steel and Nippon Sue Biden Over Decision to Block Merger

Musk’s Massive Tesla Lithium Plant Hunts for Water in Drought-Hit Texas

These EV ‘Battery Belt’ Towns Are Betting Trump Won’t Ditch Them

Getty Images to Acquire Shutterstock to Create $3.7 Billion Firm

Whirlpool’s Answer to Inflation: Charging More for Fewer Parts and Less Paint

Cintas Makes $5.1 Billion Takeover Offer for Uniform Supplier UniFirst

Luxury Brands Need to Get Over Their Youth Fixation to Offset Drag From Trump’s Tariffs

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