All three major stock market indexes rose second straight week, with energy topping Friday’s sector leaderboard as crude oil advanced to nearly $120 per barrel following drone attacks on a Saudi Arabian fuel depot. The sector helped the S&P 500 to a 0.5% gain on Friday and a 1.8% rise for the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell slightly on Friday but led the major indexes for the week with a 2% rally and the Dow Jones ticked up 0.3%. The stock market’s rebound has come even as the war in Ukraine continues with little sign of  being resolved shortly and with interest rates shooting higher as the Federal Reserve stays on track to raise rates throughout the year.


Top S&P 500 sectors last week:

  • Energy sector + 7.42% (ETF: XLE) 
  • Materials sector + 4.10% (ETF: XLB)
  • Utilities sector + 3.45% (ETF: XLU)

Top news last week:

  • US will supply Europe with natural gas:  The U.S. and the European Union will push to boost supplies of liquefied natural gas to European countries by the end of 2022 in a bid to displace some Russian gas. Under the agreement, Europe will get at least 15 billion cubic meters of additional LNG supplies by the end of the year, though it’s not clear where it will come from. Member states will also work to ensure demand and facilities to take in as much as 50 billion cubic meters of American fuel until at least 2030. The aim of course is to help the continent wean itself off Russian gas, which accounts for about 40% of Europe’s needs, while further putting the screws to the Kremlin over its war on Ukraine. “We’re coming together to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy,” U.S. President Joe Biden said at a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who added that 15 billion cubic meters this year “is a big step in that direction.” The deal still needs to be worked out by companies, but it reemphasizes the importance of U.S. gas in the global marketplace and should serve as a boost to domestic firms that produce and transport that gas.That should help U.S. gas producers like Coterra Energy (ticker: CTRA), EQT (EQT), and Southwestern Energy (SWN), as well as companies like Cheniere Energy (LNG) and Energy Transfer (ET) that process and transport the gas. Those stocks were all up on Friday. 
  • The real competition at the Oscars this year was between Apple and Netflix: Streaming services have nabbed half of the Best Picture nominations for the 2022 Academy Awards. They include: “Don’t Look Up” and “The Power of the Dog” by Netflix, “CODA” by Apple TV+, “Dune” and “King Richard” by HBO Max. While Netflix had fewer Oscar, nominations overall than last year, it had two films – Don’t Look Up and The Power of the Dog-in contention for the best picture. Netflix’s biggest competition for the top award came from Apple’s “CODA”, that won the best picture nomination. However, it does not really matter who collected the most statuettes on March 27, the primary benefit of awards season to the streamers is the free advertising for their services. Netflix could use the boost. Its stock has slumped nearly 40% year-to-date and is trading barely above its price two years ago. While Netflix subscriber numbers continue to rise, rivals like Disney+ are quickly catching up.
  • Nike Earnings: Shares of Nike (NKE) rose 5.5% in after-hours trading on Monday as the sneaker giant posted a set of impressive results. Revenues climbed 5% Y/Y to $10.9B during the holiday quarter (beating estimates of $10.6B). A drop in revenue in Greater China (-5%) was more than offset by gains in Asia Pacific & Latin America (+11%), North America (+9%) and Europe, Middle East, & Africa (+7%). Footwear sales were up 2% to $6.7B, while apparel sales rose 9% to $3.2B. Nike Direct sales rose 15% during the quarter to $4.6B.  Given the strong results, Nike was quick to flag that its direct-to-consumer model was working. The strategy was rolled out in 2017, but recently saw Nike even move away from Foot Locker (FL) and DSW (DBI) in favor of its own apps, websites and stores. “Marketplace demand continues to significantly exceed available inventory supply, with a healthy pull market across our geographies,” added CFO Matt Friend, in a statement that was noted by investors.

Calendar:
On the economic calendar, the U.S. jobs report for March will be released with economists forecasting a gain of 450K jobs to follow on last month’s blowout mark of 678K. Earnings reports are light in the week ahead, but a flurry of deliveries reports from Tesla (TSLA), Nio (NIO), Li Auto (LI) and XPeng (XPEV) could put a charge in the broad electric vehicle sector when the calendar turns to April on Friday.

Earnings this week:

Monday, March 28: XPeng (XPEV) and Jefferies Financial Group (JEF).

Tuesday, March 29: Solo Brands (DTC), Lululemon (LULU), Micron (MU), Chewy (CHWY) and RH (RH).

Wednesday, March 30: UiPath Inc (PATH), Five Below (FIVE) and Paychex (PAYX).

Thursday, March 31: BlackBerry (BB).