Benchmark indices on Wall Street traded in a narrow range through the trading session on Thursday as caution prevailed ahead of a key inflation report on Friday evening.
The Dow Jones ended below the flat line, having traded in a 350-point range through the session, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq managed to eke out gains, trading in a 40 and 160-point range respectively during the day.
Thursday’s moves were also characterized by conflicting labor market signals that continued to emerge ahead of the Fed rate decision next week.
According to a report by Challenger, Christmas, & Gray, the announced job cuts by US companies through November crossed 1.1 million, which is the highest since 2020 and are up 54% from last year. For the month itself, 71,321 cuts were announced. On the flip side, initial jobless claims for last week surprisingly fell to 1.91 lakh Vs estimates of 2.2 lakh. Economists attributed the figure to holiday-related volatility.
The big data point of today is the PCE inflation print, which will be reported at 7 PM IST. The delayed report for September is the Fed’s biggest data point to consider before its policy announcement as the latest ones will only be announced at the end of the month. Estimates expect the PCE for September to rise 0.2% from last month and 2.8% from last year. Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices may rise 0.2% from last month and 2.9% year-on-year. If these figures hold, it will mark the 55th straight month of Core PCE remaining above the Fed’s 2% target.
Despite the conflicting labor market signals, the odds of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve next week still stand at 87% as per the CME FedWatch.
The US Dollar index was back above 99 on Thursday, while Gold prices held above the mark of $4,200 an ounce. Silver saw a minor dip in prices towards the $57 an ounce mark.