It’s been a tale of two halves this week, with stocks rising earlier in the week before getting back on course Wednesday afternoon on dovish sentiment from the Federal Reserve. As expected, the central bank raised interest rates by 50 basis points, lowering the overnight lending rate to a target range of between 4.25% and 4.5%. But what unnerved the market was Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s indication that the Fed may continue to raise rates longer to keep inflation under control. The S&P 500 lost about 2.25% for the week, falling more than 1% on Friday. Meanwhile, the US government released its monthly consumer price index (CPI) this week, showing that prices rose at a slower rate than forecast in November, another sign of rising inflation. But despite increasing data points showing that inflation is easing, we think the Fed could raise rates by 5.5% next year. The central bank needs to not only slow but reverse inflation, with the reduction of wage inflation the most important thing the Fed can do to ease monetary policy. Under the hood, the consumer discretionary sector led the decline this week, followed by financials and technology. Energy was the only sector to close higher for the week. Meanwhile, the US dollar index is just below the 105 level. The price of gold remains at 1800 dollars. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices are hovering around $74 per barrel, while the 10-year Treasury yield is around 3.5%. Looking back None of the companies in the portfolio reported earnings this week. On the macroeconomic front: Consumers pulled back on spending in November, with retail sales falling 0.6 percent, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. That was less than the 0.3% decline expected by Wall Street. Also on Thursday, the Fed released data showing that US factory production fell 0.2 percent since June. Initial jobless claims for the week ending Dec. 10 rose to 211,000, down 20,000 from the previous week and below expectations of 232,000. What lies ahead is the end of the winning season and no club owners will be reported next week. Here are some other earnings reports and financial numbers to watch next week: Monday, December 19 After the bell: Heico Corp (HEI), Steelcase (SCS) Tuesday, December 20 Before the bell: General Mills (GIS), FactSet (FDS), Embecta (EMBC) After the bell: Nike (NKE), FedEx (FDX), Worthington Industries (WOR), CalAmp (CAMP), BlackBerry (BB), AAR Corp (AIR) 8:30 a.m. ET: Home Wednesday , Dec. 21 : Existing home sales Thursday, Dec. 22 Before the bell: Paychex (PAYX), CarMax (KMX), Apogee Enterprises (APOG) After the bell: Mission Produce (AVO) 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial jobless claims 8:30 am ET: Domestic price Friday, Dec. 23 8:30 a.m. ET: Durable goods orders 8:30 a.m. ET: Personal income and expenses 10:00 a.m. ET: New home sales (See Cramer’s Charitable Trust for a complete list of stocks here.) As a subscriber CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim trades. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust portfolio. If Jim talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after the trade alert is issued before trading. THE LIBRARY CLUB INFORMATION ABOVE IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY. YOU HAVE, OR WILL NOT BE CREATED, OBLIGATIONS AND OBLIGATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE VERBERGER CLUB. NO SPECIFIC RESULTS OR RECORDS ARE GUARANTEED.
The Federal Reserve Building is seen before the Federal Reserve Board is expected to unveil plans to raise interest rates in March as it focuses on fighting inflation in Washington, January 26, 2022.
Joshua Roberts | Reuters
It’s been a tale of two halves this week, with stocks rising earlier in the week before getting back on course Wednesday afternoon on dovish sentiment from the Federal Reserve.