The S&P 500 witnessed a rise on Friday, contributing to an eighth successive winning week. This upsurge comes in the wake of milder inflation figures, fueling a year-end rally on Wall Street. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average observed a modest increase of 0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite experienced a 0.5% rise. In a contrasting development, Nike, a major component of the Dow, saw a 11% decrease after revising its sales outlook downward. The company also announced a cost-cutting initiative aiming to save approximately $2 billion over the next three years.
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, the November core personal consumption expenditures price index, indicated a marginal increase of 0.1% from the previous month and a 3.2% rise from the same period last year. These figures align closely with economic forecasts. Market analysts, such as Greg Bassuk, CEO of AXS Investments, interpret these inflation metrics as indicators of a decelerating inflation trend. This perception fuels investor optimism, suggesting a “soft landing” for the economy.
All three major averages are set to mark their eighth consecutive positive week, a first for the S&P 500 since 2017 and for the Dow since 2019. The Russell 2000 also recorded gains, reinforcing the robustness of the current market rally. In housing market news, November witnessed a decline in new single-family house sales, with a seasonally adjusted rate of 590,000. Despite this decrease from October’s revised figure of 672,000, the median sales price saw an uptick to $434,700.