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The last trading week of November was cut short because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but that doesn’t mean that nothing of note happened. On Tuesday morning, the Conference Board (CB) Consumer Confidence report was released and came in at 111.7, which was slightly below the expected 111.8. Regardless, it was still higher than last month’s 109.6 and represents the highest figure since the January report came in at 114.8.

According to the CB, the figure was higher based on the expectation that jobs would be more readily available during December and into the beginning of 2025. Furthermore, consumers were more confident that their finances would improve during the first half of 2025. This was in large part because of optimism in the ability of the stock market to have a positive 2025.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released its meeting minutes from earlier in November. The main takeaway is that future cuts are more likely to be gradual to account for concerns about inflation that hasn’t fully eased. The market is currently split as to whether there will be a rate cut in December or if the Fed will decide to pause until its next meeting.

Interest rates are currently in a range between 4.5 percent and 4.75 percent, which is among the highest in the developed world. Prior to the November 5 election, there was optimism that rates could be pared back to about 3 percent by the end of 2025. However, there are some concerns about whether that is possible after President-Elect Donald Trump declared that he would place a 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico as well as tariffs on goods from China. If imposed, those tariffs would almost certainly have an inflationary effect.

On Wednesday, the preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) figures from the third quarter were released. It was determined that the economy grew an estimated 2.8 percent during those three months, which matched analyst expectations.

Also on Wednesday, unemployment claim figures from the past seven days were released. During that period, 213,000 claims were made compared to an expected 215,000. It is also slightly lower than the 215,000 claims made a week ago.

Finally, the monthly Core PCE Price Index was made public and indicated that prices rose by .3 percent in October. This matched expectations and the rate of growth experienced in September when prices also rose by .3 percent.

The S&P 500 pushed back above 6,000 during the truncated trading week as it gained 1.44 percent over the past five trading days. At the close of trading Friday, the market stood at 6,032, which is close to an all-time high.

The Dow finished the week 44,910, which represents a 2.26 percent increase over the past five trading days. As with the S&P, the Dow is trading near its all-time high. On Tuesday morning, the Dow would make its low of the week at 44,445 while it would close at its high on Friday afternoon.

Finally, the Nasdaq finished the week at 19,218, which was an increase of 1.42 percent over the past five trading days. For the Thanksgiving week itself, the Nasdaq made a low of 18,943 on Wednesday afternoon and would finish the week just a touch off the week high of 19,221.

In international news, Australia announced on Tuesday that its annual inflation rate was at 2.1 percent, which was below an expected 2.5 percent. New Zealand announced that its main interest rate would remain at 4.25 percent.

This week features the JOLTS job openings report as well as the nonfarm payroll numbers for November. The ADP report is expected to say that the economy created 166,000 jobs in November while the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report is expected to say that the economy created 202,000 jobs over the past 30 days.

On Thursday, weekly unemployment claims data was released, and it revealed that 213,000 people applied for benefits over the past seven days. This was compared to an expected 220,000 claims and was also slightly lower than last week’s 219,000 requests for benefits.

On Friday, the Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI reports were made public. The Flash Manufacturing PMI came in at 48.8, which matched analyst expectations prior to the release. Meanwhile, the Flash Services PMI came in a 57, which was higher than the projected 55.2.

The figures continue to suggest that manufacturing is still struggling to gain traction in the United States, while demand for services is flourishing. Any figure below 50 indicates a contraction in the industry while figures above 50 represent expansion.

Ultimately, this could drive another period of inflation or at least prevent prices from coming down to the Fed’s 2 percent target. Depending on what future data says, the Fed may decide to hold off on future rate cuts or slow the pace of cuts over the next 12 months. Last week, Jerome Powell said that future cuts would be data dependent and that the road to 2 percent inflation would be a bumpy one.

Currently, it’s expected that the Fed will cut interest rates another 25 basis points when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets on Dec. 18. However, recent data suggests that this is not a guarantee, and there has been speculation that other central banks may consider holding off on rate cuts as well.

The University of Michigan released its inflation expectation report on Friday morning, and respondents said that inflation would be at 2.6 percent at this point next year. Consumer sentiment came in at 71.8 compared to 74 earlier in November.

For the week, the S&P 500 increased 1.48 percent. The market made a low of 5,862 on Tuesday morning before reversing and hitting a high of 5,972 on Friday.

As with the S&P, the Dow was also up this week as it closed 1.92 percent higher at 44,296. The Dow would make its low of the week on Tuesday of 42,970 before reversing and closing at the high of the week.

Finally, the Nasdaq also finished higher over the past five trading days closing at 19,003. That represents an increase of 266 points or 1.42 percent. Unlike the S&P and Dow, the Nasdaq had a flatter curve as it opened at its lowest point of the week at 18,694 and would test that low two more times by Thursday.

In international news, Canada and Great Britain announced their inflation figures for October with both countries experiencing a slight uptick in CPI data. Great Britain also revealed that retail sales were down .7 percent in October while Canada announced its retail sales figure increased .4 percent.

The upcoming week features the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday as well as Black Friday, which generally serves as an extension of that holiday. The week will be front-loaded to include the CB Consumer Confidence report on Tuesday as well as the preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) figures on Wednesday. Unemployment claims and the monthly Core PCE Price Index data will also be released on Wednesday morning.

The week after the election was a pivotal one for the market as a slew of important data was released. The first important piece of news came out on Tuesday as inflation figures for the month and year were made public. Over the past month, core inflation rose by .3 percent, which was in line with expectations. Overall inflation rose .2 percent on a monthly basis. On an annual basis, inflation rose by 2.6 percent, which was expected but still higher than the 2.4 percent figure in October.

On Thursday, both the Core Price Producers Index (PPI) and the overall PPI were released. Core PPI came in at .3 percent on a monthly basis while overall PPI came in at .2 percent on a monthly basis. Both of these figures were in line with expectations prior to their release.

Thursday also saw the release of unemployment claim data for the past seven days. There were 217,000 requests for benefits during this time compared to an estimated 224,000. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke on Thursday afternoon, and his comments caused some to doubt whether there would be a further rate cut in December.

Although it’s still likely to see another cut of 25 basis points next month, Powell said that there was a need for caution amid uncertainty. The election of President Trump is expected to usher in policies that may be inflationary in nature, which could make it unwise to change rates until more data can be scrutinized.

On Friday, retail sales data for October came out that showed a .4 percent increase over the past month while core retail sales were up .1 percent. It was believed that both core and overall retail sales rose .3 percent over the past month. When taken together, CPI, PPI and retail sales data indicate that there is still demand in the economy that could place upward pressure on prices in the future. As economists like to say, inflation is sticky and may not be going away anytime soon.

The S&P 500 finished the week down 2.41 percent to close at 5,870 just a week after if broke 6,000 for the first time ever. The market opened on Monday morning at its weekly high of 6,014 before spending most of the week losing ground. On Friday, the S&P made its low of the week at 5,854.

The Dow finished the week down 2.07 percent to close at 43,444. It would also open at its high of the week of 44,441 before sliding back to its weekly low of 43,354 on Friday morning. Roughly one-third of the index’s weekly losses came on Friday when it lost nearly 300 points on the day.

The Nasdaq lost 3.51 percent this week to close at 18,680, which was a loss of 678 points over the last five trading days. On Wednesday afternoon, the market made its high of 19,350 before reversing and making its weekly low on Friday afternoon. At that point, the Nasdaq was at 18,605 before gaining back some ground into the close of the week.

A few key pieces of news were released by Great Britain and Australia throughout the course of the last week. Great Britain announced on Friday that its gross domestic product (GDP) over the past month fell by .1 percent. On Tuesday, Australia announced that wages grew by .8 percent over the past quarter while announcing on Wednesday that its unemployment rate was at 4.1 percent.

The upcoming week is going to feature only a couple of key news releases in the United States. On Friday, Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI will be made public in addition to the University of Michigan’s revised consumer confidence and inflation expectation figures.

If you have exposure to international markets, there will be a lot of news to keep your eye on. Early Friday morning, most developed nations in Europe will release their Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI. Great Britain and Canada will release inflation data as well as retail sales data.