Last week, stocks had their best weekly performance since November - the Dow Jones rose 2%, the S&P 500 advanced 2.67% and the Nasdaq added 4.8%. Inflation dropped again and with three straight month of inflation decreases, investors have heightened hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon slow down interest rate hikes. Over the last few weeks, the market has rallied nicely, so some profit taking should not be a shock.
Economic reports from last week came back mostly positive: •Consumer Credit - higher than expectation •Small Business Optimism - lower than expectation •Consumer Sentiment - higher than expectation •Jobless Claims - lower than expectation In a holiday-shortened week, investors will look for guidance from economic reports like Manufacturing, Retail Sales, Housing and Jobless Claims.