However, Thursday's Federal Reserve meeting pales in comparison to Tuesday's presidential election, which yielded a winner before the sun came up the next morning.to all-time highs. The Fed rate cut the next day was icing on the cake for market bulls, with gains for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The Dow on Thursday was flat. On Friday, the Dow went above 44,000 for the first time ever, and the S&P 500 topped 6,000 for the first time ever. They closed just below those levels.
While not as closely watched as the CPI, the October producer price index, which is out Thursday, could influence the markets. The monthly PPI readings are still important to monitor as they show wholesale prices that companies pay, often referred to as input costs, and whether they need to raise consumer prices to protect their margins. According to FactSet, economists expect to see a 2.3% annual increase in headline PPI and a 2.9% year-over-year increase in the core rate.
We know longer-term bond yields have been ticking up and driving mortgage rates back up with them — so the benefit of stronger housing leading to more sales of building and renovation products might still be pushed out. We were encouraged to see bond yields drop on Thursday and Friday after spiking on Wednesday. We hope that continues with the Fed in easing mode and market odds favoring another rate cut in December.