After the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance last week, Wall Street investors will face a largely uneventful economic calendar in the upcoming holiday-shortened week.
Markets will remain closed on Wednesday due to the Christmas holidays, while a shortened trading session will take place on Tuesday.
As the year 2024 nears its end, investors will be hoping for a Santa Claus rally. This phenomenon occurs when stocks rise during the last five trading sessions of December and the first two trading sessions of January.
The US Federal Reserve cut rates by 25 basis points, but expectations for 2025 were softened.
The threat of higher inflation was one of the reasons Fed Chairman Jerome Powell gave last week when the central bank hinted that it may make fewer interest rate cuts in 2025 than it had previously expected.
Economic calendar
A consumer confidence report for December will be released on December 23 (Monday).
Separate reports on November durable goods orders and November new home sales will be released on December 24 (Tuesday).
Data on initial unemployment claims for the week ending December 21 will be released on Thursday, December 26.
Separate reports on advanced US trade balance in goods for November and advanced retail inventories for November will be released on December 27 (Friday).
Markets last week
U.S. stock indexes rose on Friday on better-than-expected inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 498.82 points, or 1.18 percent, to 42,841.06, the S&P 500 gained 63.82 points, or 1.09 percent, to 5,930.90 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 199.83 points, or 1.03 percent, to 19,572.60.
This week, the S&P 500 fell 1.99 percent, the Nasdaq fell 1.78 percent and the Dow Jones fell 2.25 percent.
On the bond market, the yield on ten-year government bonds fell from 4.57 percent to 4.52 percent.
Crude oil posted a weekly loss as investors weighed the Fed’s slower approach to cutting rates and newly elected President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on EU countries unless they buy more US oil and gas .
Brent futures were little changed around $73 a barrel, extending a 2.1 percent decline for the week. West Texas Intermediate held steady above $69 a barrel, while the February contract fell 1.9 percent.
