US equities finished lower in Wednesday trading, near worst levels, with the Dow Jones, S&P500, and Nasdaq closing down 127bps, 147bps, and 150bps respectively. Market sold off sharply in the afternoon though no obvious catalyst. December Consumer Confidence beat, highest since July. November existing home sales posted a surprise increase. Atlanta's Fed President Harker said rate cuts won't happen right away, though also said there's no need to raise rates anymore.

US equities ended higher today, near best levels and adding to Monday’s gains, with the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq finishing up 0.68%, 0.59%, and 0.66%, respectively. The Magnificent Seven ended mostly higher, and marine transport, auto parts, cruiselines, casinos, apparel & accessories, machinery, credit cards, banks, pharma, industrial metals & precious metals were among the outperformers. There was not a lot of outright decliners, though managed care, waste, networking and communications, HPCs, grocers, and food were the relative laggards. Treasuries were stronger across the curve, though off best levels, after yields backed up on Monday. The dollar index was down 0.4%, though yen weakness was the big story in FX following the BoJ meeting. Gold finished up 0.6 along with bitcoin futures. Lastly, WTI crude settled up 1.5% after gaining nearly 1.5% on Monday as geopolitical challenges to tanker travel remain in focus.

There were few meaningful directional drivers in today’s very quiet session, though there was some notable Fedspeak, which did not echo the more hawkish messaging from Williams last Friday.

US equities ended mostly higher in fairly quiet Monday trading, though off best levels. The S&P 500 is now ~ 1.2% from its record close in Dec-21. The Dovish Fed pivot remains a key area of focus heading into year-end, even with some of the post-FOMC pushback from Fed officials. Fed's Mester said that the market has jumped a little bit ahead and that the Fed is not likely to normalize rates quickly.

US equities were higher in a broadly positive week driven by dovish takeaways from Wednesday's FOMC meeting. The Fed's move came as economic data continued to cooperate with soft-/no-landing hopes. November CPI came in a bit higher than consensus on the headline (with shelter and used-car inflation among the key components), though the release was judged to be largely in line with expectations.

US equities ended higher Thursday, though off best levels. Today's modest rally extended weekly gains, with S&P, Nasdaq now up 3%+ for the week, small-cap Russell 2000 up over 7%. Today saw sizable cyclicals/value outperformance vs growth, while equal-weighted S&P 500 outperformed cap weighted index by most since Jun-23. Dovish Fed takeaways continue to reverberate, particularly in combination with the soft-landing narrative, leaving path of least resistance for risk assets up to the upside.

US equities closed higher in Wednesday trading, not far from best levels, following the FOMC decision, with the Dow Jones, S&P500, and Nasdaq closing up 140bps, 137bps, and 138bps respectively. Fed left rates unchanged for a third straight meeting. Dot plot takeaways leaned dovish as median projection for 2024 fell 50bp to 4.60% implying 75bp worth of easing. No pushback from Powell during press conference regarding more aggressive market pricing for rate cuts.

US equities closed mostly higher in Tuesday trading, ending a bit off best levels. The Market is focused on some of the last key events for 2023, particularly today's CPI report and tomorrow's Fed decision and updated dot plot. Core CPI was in line with expectations for November, increasing 0.3% m/m and 4.0% y/y.

US equities finished higher in fairly uneventful Monday trading, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq setting fresh YTD closing highs after capping a sixth straight week of gains on Friday. There was not much on today's calendar but several key catalysts on tap this week before the market eases into year-end, particularly tomorrow's November CPI report and Wednesday's FOMC meeting (bringing updated economic projections and a new dot plot). The New York Fed's Survey of Consumer Expectations showed the lowest 1Y inflation expectations since Apr-21.   

US equities were mixed this week, with the S&P and Nasdaq each extending their streak of weekly gains to six; both indices set fresh YTD closing highs on Friday. The Magnificent Seven names were mostly higher this week. Treasuries were mostly weaker with the curve flattening. November nonfarm payrolls rose by 199K, with analysts noting job growth even beyond the impact of workers coming off recent strikes.

US equities ended higher Thursday following an uneventful trading session. Comes after stocks finished down on Wednesday, ending near worst levels. Quiet session without a lot of catalysts in focus. Some early attention on hawkish BoJ headlines, though policy normalization dynamic widely understood. Initial jobless claims were little changed w/w while continuing claims unexpectedly dropped from prior week's two-year high.