Below are the economic and market highlights for the week:
- Nonfarm payrolls were off to a sluggish start in January, likely restrained by wildfires in California and cold weather across much of the country. Businesses added 143K to the payrolls, below estimates of 170K. That was down significantly from the upwardly revised 307K added in December. Meanwhile, unemployment ticked down to 4.00% from 4.10% the previous month. Average hourly earnings were scorching hot, up a sizzling 0.50% month-over-month. The unemployment rate and average hourly earnings figures suggest a tight labor market, helping keep the Fed on hold from further rate cuts.
- January’s cold snap also sent shivers through the U.S. services industry. The ISM Services index slipped to 52.8 from 54 in December. Numbers above 50 indicate expansion while those below signal contraction. Businesses chalked up the slowdown to “poor weather conditions” which impacted business levels and production. The report, however, did show more price relief is in the works for consumers with the prices gauge falling four points to 60.4. Turning to the manufacturing sector, the ISM Manufacturing Index inched up to 50.9 in January from 49.2 in December. It was the first reading in expansion territory in more than two years. New orders, production, and employment all picked up during the month. The manufacturing recovery however looks to be short-lived as U.S. tariffs loom large over trading partners.
Stocks Flat as Move Fast, Break Things Strategy Comes to Washington
Equities treaded water this week as the Trump administration continued to take a wrecking ball to business as usual in Washington. Tariffs and trade wars shook markets on Monday as the U.S. slapped Canada, Mexico, and China with tariffs over the weekend. That sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down as much as 665 points during Monday’s trading session. However, the index paired its losses once news broke that the U.S. and Mexico had reached an agreement for a 30-day pause on tariffs. Canada followed suit with a 30-day reprieve of its own as it too moved to hammer out a longer term deal with the Trump administration. China’s tariffs, however, were allowed to go into effect, setting the two adversaries up for a protracted standoff. For the time being, the U.S. will apply a 10% tariff to all imported goods from China, the U.S.’s third-largest trading partner. China responded in kind with a 15% tax on certain types of coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and vehicles from the U.S. China also announced new export controls on more than two dozen metal products and related technologies. These include tungsten, a critical mineral used in industrial and defense applications, as well as tellurium, which is used in making solar cells. Meanwhile, back in DC, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) made waves by taking steps to shudder the U.S. Agency for International Development while separately seeking data from the Treasury’s payment system to map out additional ways of trimming fat from the government balance sheet. On Friday, Speaker Mike Johnson announced progress had been made on the budget, putting Republicans on a path to advance their budget through the reconciliation process as early as next week. With the focus squarely on Washington and tariffs this week, investors generally ignored a mixed nonfarm payrolls report and softer services numbers. It was a ferocious pace of headlines from Washington this week. While at times those headlines unsettled investors, the major indices still managed to finish roughly flat for the first trading week of February.
The Week Ahead
Hot off a holiday spending spree, we’ll see if consumers can maintain their momentum amid persistent inflation as we pour over the latest retail sales and inflation reports.
Super Bowl LIX: What to Know Before the Big Game
This Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will meet for a rematch in Super Bowl LIX. The two teams faced off in the Super Bowl two years ago. Tradition dictates the number of the bowl be written in roman numerals. This is because the NFL season spans two years, and by numbering the championship independently from the year, the NFL ensures that no one mistakes the big game as part of the following season. This year, the L indicates 50, the I represents 1, and the X is 10. While Super Bowl LIX might look like 50 + 1 + 10, it’s actually L (50) and IX (10 – 1), making it Super Bowl 59. Quick math refresher aside, this year’s game will be held at the Superdome in New Orleans. If the Chiefs win, it will be their third Super Bowl win in a row. In advance of the championship, we’re sharing some insights and trivia to gear up for the title game.
While football is certainly the focus on Sunday, the event is also known for its massive musical showcase before kickoff and at halftime. This year’s entertainment line-up celebrates Louisianna’s rich music culture with local talent. The national anthem will be performed by John Batiste, a New Orleans native, five-time Grammy Award winner, and Julliard graduate. Batiste is a pianist, composer, and singer and was the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022. He won an Oscar for co-writing the music on the Disney and Pixar movie Soul and is the star of a 2023 documentary about his life, American Symphony. He’s won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA, too. There’s a fun bet around what instrument or instruments Batiste will include in his performance. He’s performed the national anthem dozens of ways, using piano, guitar, a rhythm machine, and a cappella. One can hope to see his controversial melodica make an appearance, a peculiar instrument that tormented Batiste’s professors at Julliard. You can read more about his beloved and maligned melodica in an article in Garden and Gun here.
America the Beautiful will be performed by Trombone Shorty, also known as Troy Andrews, a legendary New Orleans musician, along with Lauren Daigle, the first female artist to reach the Top 10 on both Pop and Christian charts at the same time. Grammy-winning artist Ledisi will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Ledisi was born in New Orleans and is a soul and R&B artist with nearly a dozen albums to her name, and she has a successful acting career appearing in numerous films.
While the pregame musical lineup is stocked with Louisiana talent, the halftime show will be performed by Kendrick Lamar, a native of Compton, CA. Lamar is a multi-platinum selling artist who, in 2018, became the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for music, an award that honors “distinguished musical composition by an American.” Historically, the Pulitzer Prize for music is awarded within the genres of classical and jazz and had never been given to a hip hop artist. Lamar continues to solidify his reputation in the music industry by taking home five Grammys this past Sunday, including best music video, best rap performance, best rap song, song of the year, and record of the year. Over his career, he has received 57 Grammy nominations and won a total of 22.
The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most-watched performances in the world, and it’s widely considered the most prestigious gig in the music industry. It comes with a hefty production price tag of around $10 million – think lights, pyrotechnics, stage design and set up, back up dancers, costumes and wardrobe changes, band members, special effects, etc. Some artists have chosen to pay millions more from their own pockets to maximize the Super Bowl spectacle. However, the performers do not get paid by the NFL, other than a negligible union-mandated minimum. Last year’s headliner, Usher, reportedly received $671. In return for their 12-to-15-minute performance, the artists get massive exposure that has historically led to soaring music sales. After last year’s show, Usher reportedly received a 550% bump in overall Spotify streams. Rihanna, the 2023 headliner, snuck in a plug for her Fenty Beauty brand during her set that was worth an estimated $44 million in earned media. Following Lady Gaga’s 2017 halftime show, her music sales jumped over 1,000% in a single day. In 2020, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira saw their song catalog sales increase by 900% after their performance. Lamar will no doubt ride the Super Bowl wave. This summer, he kicks off The Grand National Tour, a 19-stop stadium tour across North America (his first time headlining a stadium-sized tour), and in July, a movie he co-produced is set to be released.
If you plan to tune in one Sunday, we hope you’ll enjoy testing your sideline sports knowledge and guessing what will happen on the gridiron with the 25 questions below.
1. How many times has the Super Bowl featured a rematch?
a. 2 times
b. 5 times
c. 10 times
d. 15 times
Answer: There has been more than one game between the Cowboys and Steelers, 49ers and Bengals, Eagles and Patriots, Cowboys and Bills, Rams and Patriots, Giants and Patriots, Dolphins and Washington, and Chiefs and Eagles. Super Bowl rematches have happened 10 times, including this year.
2. How long will it take Jon Batiste to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner”?
a. More than two minutes
b. Less than two minutes
For background, the national anthem has gone over two minutes in eight of the past 12 Super Bowls, but just three times in the past seven.
3. Who sang the longest national anthem?
a. Natalie Cole
b. Beyoncé
c. Faith Hill
d. Alicia Keys
e. Pink
f. Lady Gaga
Answer: While the average length is about 1 minute and 50 seconds, Alicia Keys clocked in at 2 minutes 35 seconds during Super Bowl XLVII.
4. What will be the coin flip result?
a. Heads
b. Tails
5. Which Team will win the coin flip?
a. Eagles
b. Chiefs
6. Will Taylor Swift be shown on the FOX broadcast during the national anthem?
a. Yes
b. No
7. Will Taylor Swift be shown before the final whistle wearing clothing/accessories bearing Travis Kelce’s name, number, image, or likeness?
a. Yes
b. No
8. Will Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes or Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts be shown first on the FOX broadcast during the anthem?
a. Mahomes
b. Hurts
9. Which head coach will be shown first during the anthem?
a. Eagles coach Andy Reid
b. Philadelphia coach Nick Sirianni
10. Will Jason Kelce, whose former team (Philadelphia Eagles) is playing his brother’s team (Kansas City Chiefs) on Sunday, be shown with clothing/accessories bearing the colors, name, number, image or likeness of the Chiefs or Eagles?
a. Eagles
b. Chiefs
c. Both
d. None of the above – he will not show his allegiance to either team or to any individual player
11. The halftime show usually runs about 12–15 minutes. How many total songs will Kendrick Lamar perform? FYI: Rihanna fit 15 songs into just a little over 13 minutes, and Usher performed 12 songs.
a. 10 songs
b. 11 songs
c. 12 songs
d. 13 songs
e. 14 songs
f. More than 14 songs
12. In the past 10 Super Bowls, the final digit of the losing score was “0” three times, the most of any digit in that span. What will be the last digit (units digit) in the losing team’s final score?
☐ 0 ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3
☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6
☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☐ 9
13. Which team will score the first touchdown?
a. Eagles
b. Chiefs
14. Which team will reach 10 points first?
a. Eagles
b. Chiefs
15. Which team will be leading at halftime?
a. Eagles
b. Chiefs
16. Which team will win the game?
a. Eagles
b. Chiefs
17. How many total points will be scored by both teams combined? The average total points over the last four Super Bowl games is 50.75.
a. More than 50
b. Less than 50
18. Will there be a football octopus in this year’s Super Bowl? A football octopus occurs when a player scores a touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion, which is eight points. In 2023, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts became the first player to pull off an octopus in a Super Bowl. Philadelphia trailed the Chiefs 35-27 in the fourth quarter when Hurts scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, then rushed for the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 35. The two-point conversion was implemented in college football in 1958, but it took until 1994 to be introduced to the NFL. That means there have been 30 Super Bowls played with the possibility of an octopus, yet only one octopus has been scored in a Super Bowl.
a. Yes
b. No
19. Will there be a scorigami? A scorigami is a final score that has never occurred in the NFL. Since the NFL began in 1920, there have been 1,086 unique final scores. That includes 38 scorigamis in the postseason. As more get hit, it becomes harder to achieve. There were six scorigamis during the 2023-24 regular season and one in the playoffs when the Texans beat the Chargers 32-12.
a. Yes
b. No
20. Which college has produced the most Super Bowl quarterbacks?
a. Alabama
b. Oklahoma
c. Notre Dame
d. Georgia
e. University of California, Berkeley
f. Texas Tech
g. Michigan
h. Purdue
Answer: This might be surprising. University of California, Berkeley, leads the way with 5 QBs, including Aaron Rodgers. Alabama*, Notre Dame, and Purdue each have produced three. *While Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts began his career at Alabama, he transferred to Oklahoma, where he finished his career. Hurts is being counted as the first Oklahoma quarterback to play in a Super Bowl.
21. How many chicken wings will be eaten during the Super Bowl?
a. more than 10 million
b. more than 100 million
c. more than 1 billion
Answer: According to the National Chicken Council’s annual Chicken Wing Report, Americans are projected to consume a record-breaking 1.4 billion chicken wings during Super Bowl LIV weekend.
23. What color of Gatorade will be poured on winning coach?
a. Green/Yellow/Lime
b. Orange
c. Blue
d. Purple
e. Clear
f. Red/Pink
g. None
24. How long, in hours and minutes, will the game last, from the moment of the first kickoff to the moment the game goes final? The last five Super Bowls have lasted between 3 hours 26 minutes and 4 hours 6 minutes.
_____ hours _____ minutes
25. How much are the Super Bowl referees paid?
a. Nothing. They do it for free similar to the halftime performers.
b. $10,000
c. $50,000
d. $100,000
Answer: It’s a big honor for referees to call the Super Bowl, and they get paid well for the responsibility—reportedly between $30,000 and $50,000.