In the past week, The Numbers showcased a spectrum of strategies across its 20-stock portfolio, navigating through an eddy of market ebbs and flows to land a modest overall gain of 0.52%. Notably, this placed the portfolio’s performance at 0.66% ahead of the S&P 500, which experienced a slight contraction of -0.14%, highlighting the astute tactical maneuvers employed by The Numbers.
The top performer in this roster was Chevron Corporation, which surged by a commendable 3.62%. This uptick likely reflects bullish sentiment around energy markets or potentially geopolitical factors influencing oil prices. Echoing this positive trend, Salesforce also swam upstream with a 2.93% gain, possibly spurred by robust enterprise software demand and positive earnings reports, suggesting a healthy appetite for its cloud-based solutions. Home Depot, riding on the crest of a return to home improvement spending, contributed a 2.05% lift, further helping to offset weaker performers.
Broadcom took a subtler but steady course to clock in a 0.90% gain, benefiting perhaps from continued strength in semiconductor sales, while PayPal eked out a gain of 0.52%, possibly buoyed by strategic partnerships or increased digital payment adoption.
Conversely, the tech giants in the portfolio, such as Microsoft and NVIDIA, both posted a modest dip of 0.94%. External pressures and market rotation away from tech stocks might have played a role here, despite their robust fundamentals. The same narrative possibly describes the 1.10% dip in Meta Platforms and the further descent of 1.23% in Tesla, both potentially affected by broader market corrections or investor sentiment shifts.
Elsewhere, in the realm of healthcare and consumer goods, Merck & Co and Johnson & Johnson couldn’t escape the downward drift, retreating by 0.74% and 1.14% respectively. Similarly, staples like Walmart and Costco found themselves in the red, reflecting perhaps some rotation into other sectors or profit-taking among investors.
The sole short position this week was on Bank of America Corporation, which surprised with a loss of 1.44%. Given the rising interest rate environment, and its impact on the financial sector, this may have seemed a stellar opportunity at first glance, but the bounce could suggest a rethink may be necessary as market conditions evolve.