China’s consumer price index rose 0.1% in December from a year earlier, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Factory deflation extended into a 27th month, though the producer price index recorded a slower drop of 2.3%, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. For the full year, consumer prices only inched up 0.2% from 2023, well short of the 1.1% gain economists had predicted at the beginning of 2024.
In minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December 17-18 meeting released on Wednesday, January 8, Federal Reserve officials clearly decided to move more slowly on cutting interest rates in the quarters ahead. “Participants indicated that the committee was at or near the point at which it would be appropriate to slow the pace of policy easing,” minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee showed. “Many participants suggested that a variety of factors underlined the need for a careful approach to monetary policy decisions over coming quarters.” Please note the reference to “quarters” and not “months.”
The 20-year Treasury bond, a laggard on the government debt curve since its re-introduction in 2020, topped 5% Wednesday for the first time since 2023. The move looks to be fueled by concern that President-elect Donald Trump’s policies on tariffs and tax cuts will lead to wider deficits and rekindle inflation.
The Institute for Supply Management’s index of services advanced 2 points to 54.1 last month. That show of strength in the economy–readings above 50 indicate expansion–was enough to push stocks lower as the markets began to price in a delay in the next interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve until July The measure of prices paid for materials and services rose more than 6 points to 64.4, suggesting that the drop in the inflation rate in the service sector–about 70% of the U.S. economy–might be over.
Today the Washington Post reported that President-elect Donald Trump’s aides are exploring tariff plans that would amount to paring back–the Post’s characterization–the tariff plans that candidate Trump proposed on the campaign trail.
President-elect Trump immediately hit back on social media saying the Post story was made up and there were no such sources from his team.
Last year, Nvidia’s stock experienced a 16% increase over the 10 days following the beginning of the huge Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This year Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang is scheduled to deliver the opening keynote speech at 6:30 p.m. Las Vegas time. (That’s 9:30 New York time.) I’d expect a couple of volatile days for Nvidia shares following Huang’s talk.
I expect another meandering week as the market waits on Friday’s jobs report for December and the beginning of earnings season on January 15.
And on the subject of natural gas.
On Wednesday, January 1 Russian energy company Gazprom said it was no longer sending gas across Ukraine because that country had decided it would not renew a deal allowing Russian gas to transit its territory. The action ends an energy supply route that dates back some 60 years.
About 5% of the supply of Europe’s natural gas flows through Ukraine. Despite the ongoing Russian invasion,Ukraine had continued to allow Russian oil and gas to cross its territory to serve its European neighbors. That generated revenue for Kyiv and Moscow to use in funding that war. This moves comes as the United States is facing a major cold wave that could persist into mid-January
Despite ending 2024 with a serie of losing sessions–four down sessions in a row–the Standard & Poor’s 500 finished up 23% in 2024.
Pending sales of U.S. homes increased for a fourth month in November to the highest level since early 2023. But why? That’s the key question. If it’s because potential buyers have given up waiting for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates further, then this “good news” is another negative indicator for 2025
Do you know how to tell it’s Christmas here in Venice?
Trading was thin for Christmas weeK. So time for Santa to put in an appearance on Wall Street? The Standard & Poor’s 500 finished near session highs, up O.79% to 5974. And Nvidia (NVDA), up 3.69%, and Meta Platforms (META), up 2.49%, helped drive an index of the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps up almost 1.5%.
