CWS Market Review – December 2, 2024
We had some technical issues and this issue was not sent out over Thanksgiving, but I’m sending it out now. My apologies for the delay.
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” – Abraham Lincoln
I hope all our American friends had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite holidays. Given the holiday-shortened week, this will be an abbreviated issue.
The stock market was closed on Thursday, and it will close at 1 pm ET on Friday. The NYSE hates being closed four days in a row. The Friday after Thanksgiving is usually the lowest-volume day of the year.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 snapped a seven-day winning streak. On Tuesday, the index got as high as 6,025. In fact, on Wednesday morning, we weren’t far from another new high.
In this week’s issue, I’ll go over some of the recent economic reports. Due to the holiday, Wednesday was an especially busy day for econ news. I’ll also preview next week’s earnings report from Science Applications International. The stock got walloped earlier this month on fears that Elon and Vivek might hinder its business. I’m not so sure.
I also have a few Buy List updates for you, but first, let’s look at where the economy is on Turkey Day.
On Wednesday, the government said that the economy grew at a real, annualized pace of 2.8% for the third quarter. That’s unchanged from the initial estimate we got one month ago. The key takeaway is that consumer spending grew by 3.5%.
Despite many predictions of imminent downfall, the economy continues to expand. Investment in R&D was revised a little bit higher, while household spending was revised a bit lower. Gross domestic income rose by 2.2%. Corporate profit margin was revised up to 15.6%.
It looks like the economy made it through 2024 without falling into a recession. The Atlanta Fed thinks the economy will grow by 2.7% for Q4. The odds for a December rate cut have increased to 66%.
Wednesday’s jobless-claims report fell by 2,000 to 213,000. Continuing jobless claims rose by 9,000 to 1.907 million. We’ll learn more about the state of the labor market next Friday, when the government releases the jobs report for November.