Monday will be an interesting day as we reach the halfway point of December
Stocks closed out the week last week mostly lower, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both logging their third-straight weekly losses. Last week's outlook for additional fiscal stimulus remained murky, as the $908 billion bipartisan proposal continued to not receive Senate Republican support. The House managed to pass a one-week federal spending extension to avoid a government shutdown through this week, giving lawmakers more time to negotiate further stimulus measures. Final FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine should result in the first broadly distributed vaccine doses within the U.S.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI - 30,046.37) added 0.2% on Friday, and fell 0.6% for the week last week. The S&P 500 Index (SPX - 3,663.46) dropped 0.1% for the day on Friday and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC - 12,377.87) shed 0.2% on Friday. The indexes fell 1% and 0.7%, respectively, last week. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX - 23.31) added 3.5% on Friday, while finishing last week 12.1% higher.
Market activity is ramping up before the end of the year, with a number of economic indicators for investors to analyze as they hit December's halfway point. Today, investors can expect the monthly oil market report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). There is a small handful of earnings reports today due out today.
For your convenience, we have rounded up the one company slated to release earnings today, December 14:
EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW -- $5.10) provides construction products and services to public and private infrastructure projects. EZCORP will report its fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes today.
Here is a quick recap of how Friday's earning call played out:
Construction Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROAD -- $483.7429.11) provides construction products and services to public and private infrastructure projects. Earnings per share rose 6.25% over the past year to $0.34, which beat the estimate of $0.30. Revenue of $224,645,000 declined by 5.34% from the same period last year, which missed the estimate of $241,500,000.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, the day will be much busier, with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) two-day meeting kicking off. Industrial production and capacity utilization data are also due out. In addition, the import price and Empire State manufacturing indexes are on tap. As for earnings, there will be another small handful released on Tuesday. All economic dates listed here are tentative and subject to change.