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The Rotunda
Monday, February 24, 2025

Financial Corner

The first three months of the year are officially over, and as fast as it has moved, it has been quite interesting in the financial world. The stock market, as a whole, has been quite volatile to say the least.

According to Yahoo Finance, The Dow Jones has been up, as high as around 18,300, and as low as almost 17,100. This has been a very volatile start to the year, and all signs show that it could stay that way for the rest of the year.

Talks about interest rates, oil prices, the improving housing market and other factors have made the first quarter a busy time.

Looking ahead for the next few weeks, I don’t see there being much of a difference in terms of volatility. According to Yahoo, The Dow has only been up 0.83 percent since the year began, but depending on what happens with interest rates, I can’t imagine the market will make any big moves in the near future.

This week’s Stock Picks:

Halliburton (HAL): It has been down 32 percent over the past six months; however, if oil is going to turn around, now is the time to buy. Halliburton is a solid company that is currently trading at $42 a share, but projected at a one-year target estimate of $47.68, according to Yahoo. Goldman Sachs likes them as well, and it’s hard to bet against them.

FedEx (FDX): FedEx has been making big moves recently with buying GENCO in December for $1.4 billion. The future looks bright for them.

They are currently trading at $166 a share, according to Bloomberg, but are projected to go up to around $190 a share, by the end of the year. They’ve been down recently, however, as the summer rolls around, I expect them to bounce back and return closer to the $200 mark by the end of the year.