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The final full week of June saw a lot of substantial news, worthy of investor attention. On Tuesday, the CB Consumer Confidence Index was released and came in at 100.4, which is slightly lower than last month’s 101.3. However, it was slightly higher than the 100 that analysts expected prior to the release.

On Wednesday, new home sales data came out and revealed that 619,000 homes had been sold in the past month. It was believed that about 636,000 homes would be sold in the previous month, and the June figure was much lower than the 698,000 from last month. Interest rates have been cited as a major factor in the housing market slump over the past 30 days.

On Thursday, it was revealed that there was a 2.1 percent decrease in the number of pending sales. This means that the market could be in a slump for an extended period as fewer people are even entering into contracts to buy homes. If you’re looking for a silver lining, home sales retreated 7.7 percent in May, so there was a relative improvement in this month’s report.

Also on Thursday, it was revealed that the final gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 1.4 percent in the first quarter of 2024. This was in line with analyst expectations and is the smallest quarterly gain since the economy entered a technical recession in 2022. Finally, unemployment claims data was released on Thursday morning and found that 233,000 people sought benefits in the last seven days. This was about 3,000 fewer than expected and about 6,000 fewer than last week.

On Friday, the monthly Core PCE price index came out, and it presented some good news on the inflation front. The June report indicated that prices increased by just .1 percent, which matched expectations and was the lowest figure since December 2023. Combined with other data released in previous weeks, it could indicate that the Fed might be willing to cut rates before December.

Despite the news this week, the S&P 500 remained almost flat for the week, increasing by just 3.7 points over the last five trading days. The market now stands at 5,460.68, which is near yearly and all-time highs. The low of the week came late Monday afternoon when the market touched 5,452 while the weekly high came on Friday morning when the index hit 5,522.

The Dow also was relatively flat this week closing lower by .31 percent to finish at 39,118. This translates to a loss of 122 points, but it still keeps the market near all-time highs. For the week, the Dow made a low of 38,959 on Wednesday morning and a high of 39,381 on Friday afternoon.

The Nasdaq would also gain only modestly this week finishing up .43 percent to close at 17.732. A weekly high was made Friday morning at 18,027 while the weekly low was made on Monday afternoon when the market dipped to 17,526. As with the other two major indexes, the Nasdaq is also close to its all-time high.

In international news, Canada announced on Tuesday morning that its monthly inflation rate was .6 percent while its annual inflation rate was 2.9 percent. On Tuesday evening, Australia announced that its inflation rate was 4 percent on an annual basis, higher than the expected 3.8 percent. On Thursday night, Japan announced that its inflation rate was 2.1 percent on an annual basis, which was slightly higher than the expected 2 percent.

This upcoming week will be a hectic one despite, the July 4 holiday. On Wednesday, the ADP nonfarm payroll report will come out while the BLS version will come out on Friday. It’s believed that the ADP report will show a net gain of 156,000 jobs while the BLS report will indicate a net gain of 189,000 jobs. In addition, Jerome Powell will speak on Tuesday while the FOMC meeting minutes will be released on Wednesday.

This week was a critical one for investors as the Fed finally gave some guidance about the timing of the first interest rate cut. News releases unveiled this week also showed that the economy may finally be slowing enough to question whether a recession may be on the horizon.

On Monday, the Empire State Manufacturing Index came in at negative six. Although the figure was an improvement from the previous month, it still indicates a contraction in the manufacturing sector in New York.

On Tuesday, retail sale data came in below expectations. Analysts had predicted that core retail sales on a monthly basis would increase by .2 percent while overall retail sales were projected to expand by .3 percent. However, core retail sales actually fell by .1 percent while overall sales only went up by .1 percent.

The Juneteenth holiday meant that there was no major news on Wednesday, but there were plenty of major announcements on Thursday to keep market participants occupied. Unemployment claim data was released and revealed that 238,000 people applied for benefits during the last seven days. This was more than the analyst projections but below last week’s figure of 243,000.

Also on Thursday, building permit data came out and it was revealed that 1.39 million were issued in the past month. This was lower than the 1.45 million expected prior to the release. The data suggests that fewer homes are being built, which can put pressure on housing prices. Housing prices have been one of the key drivers of inflation over the past few years. However, on Friday, it was reported that existing home sales were 4.11 million, which beat the expectation of 4.08 million.

Also on Friday, Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI figures were made public. The Flash Manufacturing PMI came in at 51.7 while the Flash Services PMI came in at 55.1. This indicates that both the manufacturing and service sectors are expanding.

The Dow was up .84 percent this week to close at 39,150. On Tuesday afternoon, the market hit its low of the week of 38,765 while it hit its high of the week on Friday morning of 39,210.

The Nasdaq was up .43 percent this week to close at 17,869. The market would make its high of the week on Monday afternoon when it hit 17,924. On Friday morning, it hit a low of 17,664. As of the close of trading on June 21, the market is at both a yearly and all-time high.

The S&P 500 closed up 1 percent this week to finish at 5,464. As with the Nasdaq, the S&P is at both yearly and all-time highs. On Monday, the market would open at its weekly low of 5,426 while it hit its weekly high on Thursday of 5,503.

In international news, Switzerland announced on Thursday morning that it was cutting its interest rate to 1.25 percent from 1.5 percent. Also on Thursday morning, the Bank of England (BOE) announced that it was keeping its rate steady at 5.25 percent. It was expected that the BOE would cut its rate by 25 basis points.

It’s believed that the delay could have implications for the Fed as it relates to its own interest rate strategy. Fed officials have said throughout the week that there will likely be a rate cut in December. However, there was some speculation that a cut could come as early as September if economic news continues to come in weaker than expected.

Finally, the Royal Bank of Australia (RBA) announced on Tuesday morning that the nation’s interest rate would remain at 4.35 percent. Notably, the RBA said in its press conference that there was actually talk about raising rates as opposed to cutting them.

There will be several important news releases next week. Wednesday sees the reveal of gross domestic product (GDP) figures while the Core PCE Price Index comes out on Friday. In addition, inflation data from Australia and Canada is going to be released during the next five trading days.