Week of November 28, 2022

Last week, during the shortened Thanksgiving holiday week, all three major indices ended the week up. The Dow and S&P 500 increased 1.78% and 1.53%, respectively, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.72%.

Last week’s rally is being attributed to comments from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials. In the recently released minutes from the Fed’s November meeting, officials indicated that the central bank would likely begin to slow rate hikes as inflation appears to be cooling. “A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate,” the meeting minutes said.

Investors are looking toward this last week of November to continue last week’s gains. This week presents a host of earnings reports, economic data, and speeches from four Federal Reserve members.

Monday is the last day for public comment on the Labor Department’s proposed rule addressing whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. Tuesday’s economic data includes Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) monthly home price index and Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey – which measures the level of consumer confidence in economic activity. Wednesday will see the preliminary Q3 GDP (current estimate is 4.3 percent according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow tracker) and employment reports. Thursday will see the release of the Personal Consumption Expenditure Report (PCE) and the Senate will begin its hearing on FTX’s collapse to explore potential congressional action to avoid similar events in the future.