MarketBeat Week in Review – 10/30 - 11/3

Equities rallied to close the week. If the S&P 500 finishes positive on Friday, it will mark the first time the index has closed in the green on all five trading days since November 2021.

In this case, the theme of bad news is good news is back. Specifically, the September Jobs report was weaker than expected, and the prior two months showed sharp downward revisions. The knee-jerk reaction is that a weaker jobs market supports the Fed's current stance of pausing interest rates at their current level. 

Investors will now wait for the latest readings on inflation, which won't be out until mid-November. Next week will bring another full week of earnings reports. While most companies continue to beat earnings expectations, many are lowering their forecasts for the rest of the year. If that trend continues, it may pressure stocks, with expectations for a weaker-than-expected holiday season repeated by corporate executives. 

Articles by Jea Yu 

Now that Halloween has come and gone, investors are speculating on the outlook for the upcoming holiday season. Two of the top toy stocks for investors are Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) and Hasbro Inc. NYSE: HAS. 

This week, Jea Yu analyzed the recent earnings reports by both companies and explained why weak guidance suggests investors may want to wait before buying either company's stock. 

While toy stocks may be a wait-and-see investment, the outlook for cybersecurity stocks looks much better. In a sector that has done very well in 2023, many stocks may feel out of reach for some investors. However, Yu analyzes two cybersecurity stocks that are down after earnings, creating a buying opportunity for patient investors. 

Conversely, clean energy stocks were shellacked this year, but we can find an exception in uranium stocks. Yu gives investors two uranium stocks to buy as uranium prices are at 10-year highs and likely to go higher on increasing demand for nuclear power and geopolitical instability. 

Articles by Thomas Hughes 

After Exxon Mobil Corporation NYSE: XOM and Chevron Corporation NYSE: CVX each announced significant deals, investors may wonder which stock is a better choice for their portfolio. That's the question that Thomas Hughes was answering as he breaks down what each deal means, why each stock is falling after earnings and the technical outlook for each stock. 

Hughes also wrote about the slow but steady turnaround happening with Intel Corporation NYSE: INTC. As Hughes notes, this story is still in its early innings, but the reinstatement of the dividend is one of five reasons  Hughes believes INTC stock should draw investors' attention. 

It's been a rough summer and early fall for restaurant stocks, and investors question if the consumer has tapped out. However, as Hughes writes, the results from McDonald's Corporation NYSE: MCD show that the best-in-class companies, particularly those that have embraced digital technology, are doing well today and have a strong outlook for the future. 

Articles by Sam Quirke 

One of the market-moving stories this week has been the earnings report from Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL. The tech giant is a bellwether for not only the tech sector but also the broader market. Before Apple reported, did you read Sam Quirke's earnings preview? If not, the article still outlines why the long-term outlook for AAPL stock still looks favorable. 

Quirke was also analyzing the recent earnings report from Amazon.com Inc. NASDAQ: AMZN. Quirke highlighted three points from the earnings report that may have AMZN stock moving to fresh highs. 

And sticking in the tech sector, Quirke wrote about the outlook for Roblox Corporation NYSE: RBLX. As Quirke writes, the stock has been rangebound for more than a year, but the stock has rallied recently, and Quirke provides an analysis of why RBLX stock may just be getting started. 

Articles by Kate Stalter  

Tesla Inc. NASDAQ: TSLA stock was already under pressure following its quarterly earnings report. This week, Kate Stalter wrote about the latest drop in TSLA stock. The EV maker closely ties into the semiconductor industry, and the weak forecast from ON Semiconductor Corp. NASDAQ: ON further confirms that demand for EVs is stagnant at best. 

Stalter also wrote about the drop in Johnson & Johnson NYSE: JNJ stock. In this case, investors are souring on the stock as the company continues looking for a settlement to a raft of talc-based lawsuits that the company is considering bankruptcy. 

On a brighter note, Stalter looked at five blue-chip Dow stocks that fared "less bad" during the recent correction. As Stalter reminds investors, that's a good sign of which stocks may be ready to outperform when the market turns. 

Articles by Ryan Hasson 

This week, Ryan Hasson wrote about HUB Cyber Security NASDAQ: HUBC. This is a small-cap cyber security company headquartered in Israel whose stock has experienced triple-digit growth in the last month. As any investor with small-cap exposure understands, what goes up sharply can quickly decrease just as sharply. Hasson helps explain the catalysts behind the recent price movement and an explanation of the technical signals the company will have to overcome.

Articles by Gabriel Osorio-Mazilli 

3M NYSE: MMM has been a tough buy-and-hold for many investors because of its multiple lawsuits. Though a settlement has been reached, questions remain about how that settlement may affect the company's dividend, which remains one of the more compelling reasons to own the stock. Gabriel Osorio-Mazilli explains why the dividend may be safer than you think, which may be bullish for MMM stock. 

Osorio-Mazilli was also looking at the outlook for oil stocks and pointed investors to two oil stocks that look favorable as the United States looks to import oil partners. 

Contrarian investors looking to profit in this market may want to look at the consumer discretionary sector. When you do, Osorio-Mazilli suggests looking at two low-beta stocks that analysts believe have a wide moat for growth. 

Articles by MarketBeat staff 

Index providers periodically reassess and, if necessary, rebalance their benchmark indexes to maintain a more accurate representation of market capitalization and style. MarketBeat staff wrote about recent changes to the small-cap S&P 600 index and highlighted two names that will be very familiar to investors. 

The staff also wrote about MarketBeat's stock of the week, Uber Technologies Inc. NYSE: UBER. The big news for the company is its launch of fully autonomous vehicles in a test market in Phoenix, Arizona. Investors may want to hear if Uber has further commentary about the program when it reports earnings on November 7.