John Hancock: Weekly Market Recap Week Ended December 9th

Inflation signals

A report released on Friday showed the prices that U.S. suppliers charge goods producers rose at a slower annual rate in November than they had in the previous month. However, on a month-to-month basis, the Producer Price Index’s 0.3% increase was slightly above economists’ consensus forecast for a 0.2% rise.

Recession fears

Officials with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on Friday expressed concerns about a worsening outlook for the global economy and the potential for a recession. The IMF currently forecasts global growth will slow to 2.7% in 2023, down from expectations of 3.2% this year.

Fed pivot?

At its next meeting ending on Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to lift its benchmark interest rate for the seventh and final time of 2022. The meeting comes after Chair Jerome Powell confirmed in a recent speech that the Fed could begin to shift to smaller interest-rate increases this month to try to tame inflation. Officials approved rate hikes of three-quarters of a percentage point at each of their last four meetings.

Price check ahead

A Consumer Price Index report scheduled to be released on Tuesday will show whether the recent moderation in inflation extended into November. In October, inflation rose at an annual 7.7% rate—down from 8.2% in September—and 0.4% on a month-to-month basis. Both figures were below the levels that most economists had expected.

Source: https://wmr.jhinvestments.com/