John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended December 13
Sticky inflation
For the second month in a row, the Consumer Price Index came in slightly above the previous month’s reading, with November’s annual rate of 2.7% topping October’s 2.6% result and September’s 2.4% figure. While the latest reading was in line with expectations, it was a further indication of recently stalled progress in bringing inflation closer to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 2.0% long-term target.
Growth tops value
An index of U.S. large-cap growth stocks outperformed its value counterpart by a wide margin for the second week in a row, extending the growth equity style’s year-to-date outperformance. At Friday’s close, the growth index was up about 3.9% over the two-week period while the value index was down an equal amount.
Buyback scorecard
Companies in the S&P 500 boosted their stock buyback spending to $918 billion in the 12-month period that ended in September 2024, up nearly 17% from the same period a year earlier, S&P Dow Jones Indices reported. However, spending on stock repurchases in this year’s third quarter was down 4% compared with the first quarter.
Fed ahead
At its two-day meeting concluding on Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to approve another interest-rate cut of a quarter percentage point. In mid-September, the Fed approved a half-point reduction, and it followed up in early November with a quarter-point cut.
Source: https://www.jhinvestments.com/weekly-market-recap#market-moving-news