As we enter the second month of 2024 with gusto, it is clear to note that this year began with more than a sense of optimism, especially around the potential decisions by central banks, which have led to speculation that there may even be interest rate reduction on the horizon as early as March this year in some Western markets.

Yesterday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in the United States concluded its two-day meeting, the first of eight to take place this year as per the standard annual schedule. However, speculation that there would be light at the end of a long tunnel proved to be exactly that - speculation. The FOMC did not announce any such forthcoming rate cuts, and interest in the United States will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.

That in itself is perhaps a positive because the past two years have been blighted by continual rate increases despite inflation heading back in the downward direction for some time now. What this means for large and small companies is that the potential freeing of capital ordinarily tied up servicing monthly commitments at high interest would lead to reinvestment in growth for publicly listed corporations and more disposable income for spending by consumers. Instead, there is a status quo.

Given that, plus other logistical and geopolitical factors that are very important considerations this month, here are five stocks to look at for February.

1) General Motors

Back in the 1980s, General Motors was not only the largest motor manufacturer but also the largest corporation in the world. It dominated the market and was a pre-tech giant stalwart. Before the Silicon Valley giants eclipsed the world's big-cap industrial giants, heavy manufacturing reigned supreme, and General Motors was at the top.

These days, General Motors, despite the vast competition within its own industry sector, is holding up well and has had a buoyant start to the year. The FXOpen chart showed General Motors stock at around the mid-$38 price range at the end of last month.

General Motors had been featured positively in the news as January drew to an end. The company's forecasts show a continued strong profit for the year ahead, beating the estimates by analysts on Wall Street. That is no mean feat, as the motor industry is a tough business these days, with high operating costs and massive competition. The company's decision to bring hybrid vehicles back to the North American market adds another string to its bow, and domestic market strength is a boon considering logistical issues in the seas these days.

The company’s product range is beginning to look desirable again, and whilst that is, of course, subjective, it is reflected in the company’s confidence in its position in the market in the year ahead.

2) Alibaba

Perhaps rather fascinatingly, Alibaba's stock has been gradually decreasing in value over the past six months.

From highs of over $102 per share at the end of July 2023 to a low of $72 at the end of January this year, according to pricing by FXOpen.

China's most famous e-commerce and internet services giant has been facing difficulties when operating internationally in recent times, an example of which surfaced at the end of last year when it was revealed that export controls relating to computer chips by the US authorities had caused regulatory challenges and caused Alibaba to abandon its intention to spin off its cloud computing division.

Whilst Alibaba has a strong foothold in the internet services sphere, a significant part of Alibaba's business relates to e-commerce to the extent that in the first quarter of last year, 63% of the company's revenues were generated by e-commerce. The company exports its products globally. Therefore, a point of interest is the method by which Alibaba will navigate the political issues in the Middle East, which are affecting the logistical operations of large companies. In some cases, shipping firms have scaled back fleet operations in the Red Sea area, a key shipping channel between Asia, Africa and Europe, due to Houthi activity in the region.

In the domestic market, Alibaba has been losing market share to giants such as Pinduoduo, which is owned by PDD Holdings.

Will Alibaba turn itself around in February or continue to decline?

3) NVIDIA

NVIDIA, one of the most prestigious big tech stocks, has been on a roll lately. At the beginning of January, NVIDIA stock began the year at $472.59 on January 3 on the FXOpen chart, which was already relatively buoyant compared to previous weeks; however, since then, it has been soaring in value.

By January 29, NVIDIA stock had reached a remarkable $623.50. This is quite monumental, especially within established big-tech companies and even more especially with regard to hardware manufacturers whose core business activity is within computer products such as graphics cards. These days, when demand from crypto miners is less of a driver of NVIDIA graphics card sales than it was a few years ago, NVIDIA has played its cards very cleverly and has been investing in AI capabilities.

There are a number of analysts who consider that the stellar growth experienced by NVIDIA, along with its leadership stance in relation to powering AI, maybe a positive combination to propel NVIDIA stock to even greater success during the course of the year ahead. The volatility of this level within such a large corporation's stock is worthy of note.

4) Boeing

North America's evergreen commercial aircraft manufacturer has made the news a few times recently, for perhaps suboptimal reasons. One of the company's products, a 737-MAX operated by Alaska Airlines, suffered a mid-air 'blowout' in which part of the fuselage disconnected itself, resulting in disastrous consequences. This is the second time in recent history that an innate fault caused one of Boeing's 737 models to feature in the news; the previous example was a few years ago when a 737-8MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after landing.

Yesterday, it came to light that Boeing shareholders had instigated a lawsuit against the company, inferring that the company had placed profit above safety prior to the incident, which occurred on January 5 this year. Boeing faces a penalty from authorities over safety, and the media is awash with reports questioning the engineering quality in recent times.

Despite all of this, the company's share price has held relatively well – it is higher than it was in October last year.

No doubt, investors' eyes will be on any potential interim rulings or settlements of suits by shareholders and fines by authorities, as well as whether rival company Airbus can outsell in the short to medium-range aircraft sector whilst the 737-MAX9s are out of service.

Currently, it could go either way.

5) Microsoft

One of the genuine tech giants, Microsoft is over 50 years old and has been providing hardware and software to corporations and private individuals for longer than many of its users have been on this earth.

During the end of last year and the first month of this year, Microsoft stock has been rising, with the backdrop of anti-competition litigation from US and UK authorities over its multi-billion dollar proposed acquisition of computerised entertainment giant Activision Blizzard keeping its corporate operations in the news.

From its high point on the last trading day of January, the candlestick has a long tail and anticipation as to whether or not the rally will continue into February.

Just two days ago, Microsoft Teams, one of the company's core communication products, was hit by an outage, the third of its type in just three days, and in January, it emerged that a syndicate of professional hackers had managed to access the emails of Microsoft senior executives, demonstrating that a company which makes software at enterprise level and is a global household name can still be compromised internally.

None of these aspects have hit stock prices. However, February is a new month, and the company's growth and merger aspirations are clear, as are the continued reservations held by the US government. Definitely one to watch!

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