Bank of America stated that the decrease in credit card spending in January is a normal occurrence and should not be a cause for concern. Year-over-year, January’s spending dropped by 0.8% and 10.6% from December. Mihir Bhatia, an analyst with Bank of America, pointed out that the data indicated that spending usually decreases by 14.6% month to month in January and, as such, the decline was better than anticipated.
On the other hand, the Russell 2000 index had an outstanding performance, closing higher by 1.75% on Monday after increasing 1.53% and 1.5% on Friday and Thursday, respectively. Despite the recent positive streak, the Russell 2000 lags behind the three main averages for the year, with a 0.9% gain compared to the S&P 500’s 5.3% and the Nasdaq Composite’s 6% increase. On the other hand, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is just shy of 3% in that period.
Lastly, some notable companies making important moves after trading hours. JetBlue Airways’ stock jumped over 15% after activist Carl Icahn reported a nearly 10% stake in the company, stating that the shares are undervalued. However, Avis Budget Group shares slipped about 1% after missing fourth-quarter revenue estimates, and ZoomInfo Technologies experienced a nearly 23% increase in its share price after exceeding analysts’ expectations in the last quarter.