US equities ended mixed, but well-off worst levels, in a Thursday session that processed a largely in-line December CPI report. Major indices still on track for solid weekly gains. Headline December CPI came in hotter than expected, though core CPI printed in line. Season expected to be a big catalyst over next few weeks with nearly 75% of S&P 500 market cap out by week-ended 9-Feb.

US equities finished higher in Wednesday trading, with the Dow Jones, S&P500, and Nasdaq closing up 45bps, 57bps, and 75bps respectively. NY Fed President Williams said that restrictive policy would likely need to continue for some time to fully achieve the Fed's inflation target and not close to the point where it would slow and stop its runoff of the balance sheet. Boeing’s CEO said in a company meeting it needs to acknowledge its mistake. HP Enterprise confirmed plans to acquire Juniper Networks in a $14B deal.

US equities closed mostly lower in Tuesday trading, though off worst levels from the morning. NFIB small business optimism index saw sequential improvement in December but marked 24th straight month below 50-year average. The Fed's Bowman said it could eventually become appropriate to lower rates if inflation continues to fall closer to 2%, but stressed we are not there yet.  

US equities finished higher in Monday trading. The Fed was in focus with Dallas Fed President Logan suggesting there may be a case to slow the pace of the balance sheet runoff. The NY Fed survey showed consumers' year-ahead inflation expectations are now at their lowest level since January 2021.

US equities were lower in the first week of the new year, with the S&P and Nasdaq declining after nine straight weeks of gains. While there was not a single catalyst, analysts continued to flag overbought conditions and stretched positioning after a strong Q4 capped 2023, as well as pointing to last year's significant gains among many megacap tech stocks. December nonfarm payrolls printed even higher than some of the whisper numbers, though the previous two months were revised lower (with ten of the past 11 monthly reports ultimately being revised down).

US equities ended mostly lower Thursday, near worst levels. S&P 500 and Nasdaq still on pace to break nine-straight weekly gains. Early 2024 focus has been on the more defensive tone in the market. Still largely chalked up to technical factors like overbought conditions and stretched positioning with metrics back near late-July levels. Labor-market data was in focus today. December ADP private payrolls rose 164K vs the 125K consensus, with strength still focused in service industries.

US equities finished lower Wednesday, near worst levels, with the Dow Jones, S&P500, and Nasdaq closing down 76bps, 80bps, and 118bps respectively. December ISM manufacturing a bit better than consensus, still in contraction, with a drop in the prices-paid component. November JOLTS job openings came in slightly below market expectations. FOMC minutes showed participants viewing rates likely at or near their peak, and lower rates by year's end could be appropriate.

US equities finished the first trading day of the year mostly lower, though ending off worst levels. The Dow finished 0.07% higher while the S&P and Nasdaq finished down 0.57% and 1.63%, respectively, which comes after both the S&P and Nasdaq finished higher for a ninth straight week last week. In today’s session, the magnificent Seven names came up for sale after an Apple downgrade by Barclays. Additionally, semis, growth software, road and rail, exchanges, asset managers, building products, homebuilders, hotels, and cruise lines were some of the other laggards. Meanwhile, banks, insurers, pharma and biotech, managed care, hospitals, food, grocers, energy, telecom, fertilizers, and casinos fared better. Treasuries were weaker with some curve flattening while the dollar index was up 0.8% on broad-based strength. Gold ended up 0.1% and bitcoin futures were up 6.8%, though they came down from best levels after topping $45K for first time in nearly two years and providing a boost for crypto-leveraged equities. Finally, WTI crude settled down 1.8%, reversing earlier gains.

For macroeconomic news, final December manufacturing PMI marked down as new orders remained weak and selling prices remained at their fastest pace since April. Meanwhile, construction spending for November was in line. That said, it will be a busier data week to come, with ISM manufacturing, JOLTS, and FOMC minutes out tomorrow and then the employment report and ISM services on Friday.

US equities finished mostly higher on Friday, though off best levels, with the S&P and Nasdaq both locking in an eighth-straight session gain. Meanwhile, the Dow slipped slightly by 0.05%. Small-caps were among the standouts again, and some other outperformers included outsourcing and consulting, biotech, and precious metals miners. Underperformers included apparel, China tech, credit cards, and airlines. Treasuries finished narrowly mixed with some curve steepening while the dollar index finished down 0.1%. Gold ended up 0.9% and bitcoin futures were little changed. Lastly, WTI crude settled down 0.4%.

It was a busy data for macroeconomic data. November headline PCE price index fell 0.3pp to a 0.1% contraction m/m, softer than consensus for 0.0%. Meanwhile, annualized PCE of 2.6% was also down 0.4pp from last month and softer than the 2.8% consensus, its lowest print since February of 2021. Core PCE of 0.1% was also softer than the 0.2% consensus. Meanwhile, annualized core PCE was down 0.2pp to 3.2%, beating the 3.4% consensus.

Besides the macro data, it was quiet from a corporate news perspective. Looking ahead, FactSet will pause publication of the Evening Market Recap for the remainder of the year and resume coverage on January 2nd. For the first week of the new year, some areas of focus include ISM manufacturing on 3-Jan and NFP on 5-Jan. Happy Holidays!

US equities ended higher on Thursday, near best levels. Comes after stocks came under notable pressure on Wednesday in a late-day selloff; S&P suffered biggest pullback since September and DJIA and Nasdaq both snapped nine-day winning streaks. Market bounced after a largely unexplained late-day selloff on Wednesday. Some talk of pressure from zero-day options trades and geopolitical tensions also flagged as an excuse, though bulk of the focus has been on overbought conditions. Initial jobless claims rose slightly w/w but came in below consensus. Continuing claims largely in line, coming off mid-November's peak levels.