feb 9  welcome to the home for realtime coverage of markets brought to you by reuters reporters you can share your thoughts with us at marketsresearchthomsonreuterscom major us stock indexes ended sharply higher on wednesday led by a 2 jump in the nasdaq ixic while big growth stocks including microsoft msfto and alphabet googlo gained all major sp 500 spx sectors ended higher with communication services splrcl leading percentage increases among them rising 25 the yield on the 10year treasury note retreated from 27month highs on wednesday rising yields have been hitting shares of megacap growth companies with investors preparing for the chance the federal reserve will interest hike rates more aggressively than previously expected because of inflation concerns with those concerns circulating all eyes will be on us consumer price index data thursday the consumer price index is expected to have increased by 05 in january and 73 for the year according to the median estimate of economists polled by reuters here is the closing market snapshot super bowl showdown will the sp 500 score or fumble 1345 est1845 gmt super bowl lvi kicks off on sunday between the nfc champion los angeles rams and afc conference winner cincinnati bengals for fun lpl financial research is taking a look at the super bowl indicator the indicator suggests stocks advance for the full year when the super bowl winner has come from the original national football league now the nfc but when an original american football league now the afc team has won stocks decline now lpl is the first to admit that this indicator has no connection to the stock market but data don’t lie the sp 500 index has performed better and posted positive gains with greater frequency over the past 55 super bowl games when nfc teams have won so should bulls be rooting for the rams maybe not lpl adds that stocks have actually done just fine lately when the afc has run away with the lombardi trophy in fact the sp 500 index gained 10 of the past 11 years after an afc super bowl victory “interestingly there have been 55 super bowl winners yet only 20 teams account for those wins” said lpl financial chief market strategist ryan detrick “of course we’d never suggest investing based on this but history would say that lately afc teams have been quite good for stocks but i’m also a bengals fan so i’m clearly biased” sp global market intelligence also took a look at super bowl history and market returns to come up with their own list of notable correlations related to the big dance one of those is  lets go offense according to sp over the past 55 years the median combined final score of each game has been 46 points when the teams in the super bowl combine to score 46 points or more the stock market returns 159 on average based on 29 years if the final combined score is less than 46 the average market return is just 82 meanwhile lpl also recently took a look at the chinese new year which kicked off on feb 1 and began the year of the tiger although lpl also emphasizes that they would never suggest investing based on the zodiac signs they note that the year of the tiger has historically been quite strong for equities in fact lpl says that since 1950 the year of the tiger has produced an average return of 138 in any event perhaps its no surprise that the bengals made the super bowl that is given its the year of the tiger markets will be stirred not shaken as cenbanks tighten manulife 1300 est1800 gmt with major global central banks eyeing both quantitative tightening and interest rate hikes investors are likely wondering whether the volatility seen in the first several weeks of 2022 will be the norm for the rest of the year while more volatility is to be expected as tightening gets under way kevin headland cochief investment strategist at manulife investment management anticipates choppiness rather than large swings central banks are simply removing the extra stimulus that was put in place to support economies during the depths of the pandemic underlying fundamentals remain very solid and financial markets will realize this he told the reuters global markets forum given this view headland said manulife has not revised their investment views despite turbulence in equity and bond markets remaining constructive although not bullish on equities while many investors are bracing for increased pressure on corporate credit markets headland does not expect spreads to widen considerably from current levels read more the economic backdrop is very supportive of corporate credit defaults remain low he said adding he prefers us highyield and lowerrated investmentgrade bonds when it comes to the biggest tech stocks headland sees the market resetting expectations for growth rates  a more painful process for some stocks than others  and says the divergence between individual companies in the sector will likely continue after hitting its highest since late 2020 in january the cboe volatility index vix is now trading around its lowest levels in over three weeks hopes for recovery from omicron too rosy 1220 est1720 gmt as cases of the covid19 omicron variant decline and politicians discuss taking off masks and use hopeful expressions like return to normal strategists and investors are also scoping out the light at the end of the economic tunnel signs of investor hope can be seen in the economically sensitive dow jones transportation average djt rally which puts it on track for a twoday gain of about 3 the rally has had a lot of help from airlines  a classic reopeningtrade sector  with the sp 500 airlines index splrcali was on track for its third straight day of gains and is up more than 10 so for this week while wells fargo investment institutes senior global market strategist scott wren sounds reasonably bullish too he throws some caution on the celebrations omicron caused economic growth headwinds when the calendar turned to 2022 and wren sees february economic activity still restrained by the virus although he tells investors to look for improvement as march progresses wren calculated that it would take monthly growth rates in february and march that approach oct 2021s big increase in gdp to hit the consensus expectation for 45 gdp growth in q1 we think that is unlikely at this point wren says aside from the big hurdle gdp would have to clear wren notes that although the setup looks good for consumers with a tight labor market and rising wages there are concerns for example he says the apple mobility index and opentable show demand fell as omicron spread and some consumers are staying at home he also points to atlanta federal reserve gdpnow estimates which shows current quarter growth barely above the flat line so wren who still sees fullyear 2022 gdp growing 45 describes current quarter estimates as too rosy and expects downgrades to these forecasts as the quarter wears on hoping for no gasp after data this week 1125 est1625 gmt kristina hooper chief global market strategist at invesco in a note wednesday says there was a gasp heard around the world last week when christine lagarde president of the european central bank talked about inflation the ecb is clearly getting concerned about inflation just as the federal reserve has been and with some good reason she writes with that in mind market watchers will be particularly focused on consumer price index data thursday and other economic reports this week she says adding i can only hope for a no gasp week in terms of the data hooper says investors already expect cpi to be much hotter than the previous month so she doesnt expect any real rattling of markets unless the data is above expectations we dont anticipate inflation will peak until the middle of 2022 so we would not get flustered by a 73 yearoveryear rise in inflation which is the consensus expectation for the cpi she writes market choppiness related to central bank policy expectations could stick around though she notes our attention remains on just how far the fed and other central banks feel they must adjust to match the new realities of inflation—and therefore how much longer we expect policy to dominate the market narrative hooper writes until we see inflation abate or at least inflation expectations indicating they are better anchored were likely not through the woods yet the sp 500 spx and nasdaq ixic are up more than 1 in early trading wednesday and the dow dji is also higher with the market led by gains in megacap stocks including microsoft msfto and alphabet googlo all sp 500 sectors are higher in early trading but real estate splrcr and materials splrcm are leading in percentage gains aluminum prices rose to 1312 year highs amid a supply shortfall caused by smelter closures in europe and china investors remained focused on the prospect of rising interest rates even as the yield on the 10year treasury note retreated from 27month highs on wednesday all eyes will be on us consumer price data thursday here is the early market snapshot the housing market is showing signs of settling into its foundations as rising interest rates appear to be lowering the demand temperature demand for home loans dropped by 81 last week as mortgage rates continued their hike out of the ravine the mortgage bankers association mba report showed the average 30year fixed contract rate usmgeci climbing 5 basis points to 383 resulting in 96 fewer applications for loans to purchase homes usmgpieci and a 73 drop in refi demand usmgreci as interest rates for home loans follow benchmark us treasury yields back to prepandemic levels depleted supply of homes on the market  driven by a mad stampede for the suburbs in search of elbow room and home office space  has launched home prices into the stratosphere those two elements combined are pulling the prospect of home ownership beyond the grasp of many wouldbe buyers particularly at the lower end of the market the rise in rates is taking a toll on homebuying affordability which has been eroded by sharply higher home prices writes mahir rasheed us economist at oxford economics as seen in the graphic below overall mortgage demand is now down 396 from a year ago due primarily to a 52 yearonyear refi dropoff still homebuyer demand remains fairly robust with the purchase index  regarded as one of the more forwardlooking housing market indicators  is down a mere 114 from the yearago buying frenzy this jibes well with most recent data from the national association of realtors which shows signed contracts for pending home sales dipping by 38 in december but still hovering above precovid levels but the stock market is an even more forwardlooking indicator providing a picture of where investors see housing shares six months to a year from now and while the sp 1500 home building index spcomhome and the philadelphia se housing index hgx enjoyed a solid outperformance through much of the health crisis a look at their 12month performance shows those indexes are now underperforming the broader sp 500 clean energy stocks sun about to shine again 0900 est1400 gmt clean energy stocks went from being 2020 stars to 2021 dogs indeed after surging more than 200 in 2020 the wilderhill clean energy index eco lost more than 30 of its value last year so far this year the group is down 22 indeed in what appears to have been a classic case of buy the rumor sell the news eco ran up ahead of the late 2020 bluewave victory and then went parabolic as president joe biden took office read more  after peaking shortly thereafter in earlyfebruary of last year eco collapsed in fact the decline from its feb 10 2021 intraday high to its jan 28 2022 intraday low was a stunning 64 loss this put it below its nov 3 2020 close or the day biden was elected however eco has reached important chart support with its jan 28 low at 10289 it essentially tagged the top of the 764786 maximum fibonacci retracement zone of its entire 20202021 advance at 102749743 this zone can provide fertile ground for some form of turn since testing it eco ended tuesday up more than 13 from the intraday low in just seven trading days additionally with its latejanuary low the ecosp 500 spx ratio nearly tagged a logscale support line from late 2018 this line offers the potential for a relative strength shift back in favor of clean energy stocks there is clearly work to do on both charts to turn the prevailing trends back up but these support measures may offer a ray of sunshine for this beleaguered group in the event they give way ecos prospects may quickly dim again both in terms of its price action and its relative performance read more for wednesdays live markets posts prior to 0900 est1400 gmt  click here read more terence gabriel is a reuters market analyst the views expressed are his own