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The third week in January was another truncated one as markets were closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Day holiday, there was still a significant amount of interesting news. The first major piece of news to be released in the United States was on Wednesday when retail figures were made available.

Over the past month, retail sales were up .6 percent while core retail sales were up .4 percent over that same period. Analysts had expected increases of .2 percent and .4 percent respectively. It’s possible that the higher figures were reflective of the holiday season during when consumers tend to be enthusiastically spending. It may also be a sign that the economy is still too hot to handle a rate cut soon.

On Thursday, unemployment claim figures for the past seven days were made available, and it was revealed that 187,000 people had filed for benefits during that period. This was compared to 203,000 a week ago and an expected 206,000 for the current period.

On Friday, preliminary consumer sentiment and inflation expectation data were released by the University of Michigan. The reports found that consumer sentiment was 78.8 percent, which was significantly higher than the projected 69.8 percent and much higher than last month’s reading of 69.7 percent. Inflation was expected to be at 2.9 percent a year from now compared to an expectation of 3.1 percent during last month’s reading.

The S&P 500 finished the week up .89 percent to close at 4.839. On Wednesday, the market reached its low of the week at 4,717 while it closed at the high of the week on Friday. The index is currently at an all-time high and some analysts believe it has the potential to eclipse 5,000 at some point this year.

The Dow was relatively flat this week finishing up .13 percent over the past four trading days. On Wednesday, the market hit a low of 37,141 before rebounding and closing at the high of the week at 37,863. In fact, the Dow spent most of the week in the red before surging 345 points on Friday to eke out a modest gain.

Finally, the Nasdaq was up 1.98 percent this week to close at 15,310 and is now just 215 points away from its all-time high. On Wednesday, the market hit its low of 14,722 and would continue to rally through the end of the day on Friday.

Oil would continue to remain range bound making a low of $70.72 on Wednesday and a high of $74.70 on Friday. During the week, an American oil tanker was attacked in the Red Sea near Yemen, which likely spooked markets during the middle of the week. Any prolonged conflict involving American oil interests may help the market break out of its recent trading range.

Gold made a high near $2,060 an ounce on Monday before falling back to $2,005 an ounce on Wednesday. The market would rebound to close the week at $2,030 an ounce.

In international news, it was revealed on Tuesday that inflation in Canada increased to 3.6 percent on an annualized basis from 3.3 percent a month ago. China revealed that retail sales were up 7.4 percent on an annual basis while gross domestic product was up 5.2 percent on an annualized basis over the past quarter. In Great Britain, inflation was up to 4 percent from 3.9 percent a month ago while retail sales fell 3.2 percent compared to last month. Finally, in Australia, the unemployment rate remained at 3.9 percent from November to December.

A number of important reports will be released this week. On Wednesday, the Flash Services PMI and Flash Manufacturing PMI figures will be made public. On Thursday, advance GDP data for the last quarter will be made available while the Core PCE Price Index will be released on Friday.

A slew of monetary policy decisions will be forthcoming from central banks around the globe including Japan and most of the major economies in the European Union (EU). The Bank of Canada (BOC) will also release its latest rate decision, and when taken as a whole, what other banks do might provide some insight into what the Fed has planned in March.

The first full trading week of 2024 featured the release of December’s inflation figures, which could have an impact on future interest rate decisions. On Thursday, it was revealed that inflation during the final month of the year was 3.4 percent, surprising most observers who believed that inflation was going to come in at 3.2 percent. While that figure would have still been higher than the 3.1 percent recorded in November, it probably would have been enough to assume that the worst was over in terms of the Fed’s inflation fight.

It is worth noting that the news wasn’t significant enough for anyone from the Fed to say that rate cuts were off the table. However, it may give pause to some voting members who may believe that the battle against inflation isn’t over until the Fed’s target of 2 percent is reached.

Prior to Thursday’s release, it was expected that the Fed could enact a rate cut in March. However, after the release Fed Member Mester said that she doesn’t believe the time is right for a rate cut and that inflation probably won’t come back to 2 percent at any point in 2024.

In other news this week, unemployment claims data was also released on Thursday morning, and it was revealed that 202,000 people sought benefits over the last seven days. This was just below the 203,000 claims reported last week and well below the analyst estimate of 209,000 claims.

On Friday, it was revealed that Core PPI was flat for the month, which means that prices for goods excluding food and energy prices remained unchanged. Overall PPI was down .1 percent for the month, which was in line with the previous month and lower than what analysts expected prior to the release.

The S&P 500 was up 1.58 percent this week to close at 4,783. On Friday, the market touched a record high of 4,802 before easing back later in the day. The market opened trading at the low of the week of 4,706 before steadily climbing.

The Dow was also up this week finishing .82 percent higher to close at 37,592. As with the S&P, the Dow would also make its weekly open at the open on Monday before climbing. The low for the week was 37,470 while the high for the past five trading days was 37,825.

Finally, the Nasdaq was up 2.67 percent to finish at 14,972 for the week. The market would make a high on Friday of 15,039 and a low of 14,586 on Monday. While it didn’t make an all-time high like the S&P did this week, it is only 2 percent off the mark and could break the existing record of 15,497 with a strong finish to the month.

Oil prices continued to remain range bound for the month as traders can’t seem to push the market above $75 a barrel or below $70. The market has been stuck in a rather tight range for the past two months.

Gold spent most of Monday and Tuesday confined to a range between $2,020 and $2,040 per ounce. However, the market broke out on Wednesday to reach a weekly low of $2,010 before rebounding to hit a weekly high of close to $2,070 on Friday.

In international news, the Swiss central bank revealed that inflation was flat over the previous month on an annualized basis. Inflation in Japan remained at 2.1 percent while price pressures eased slightly in Australia as the CPI reading for December came in at 4.3 percent compared to 4.4 percent a month ago. In China, prices fell about .3 percent compared to a fall of .4 percent last month. In Great Britain, the gross domestic product (GDP) was up .3 percent monthly.

This upcoming week will be another that is likely to start slowly thanks to the Martin Luther King Day holiday on Monday. However, the action is likely to pick up on Wednesday when retail sales figures are released. It’s expected that sales will be up .4 percent on a monthly basis. Unemployment, home sales and other key reports will also be released throughout the week while several members of the Fed are expected to give speeches that might create market volatility.