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Equities Break Losing Streak During the Holiday-Shortened Week
Equity markets inched up last week to avoid a three-week streak of losses. Global equities (represented by the MSCI All Country World Index) were up 0.90%, while domestic stocks (represented by the S&P 500 Index) were up 0.70%. With 2024 coming to a close, global and domestic equities had strong years, up 18.92% and 26.90% respectively, as of last week’s close.
US Consumer Confidence
With the holiday-shortened week in the US, markets and economic data releases were relatively tame. The Conference Board released its index of US consumer confidence on Monday, which showed a drop in December to 104.7 from 112.8 the month prior. Consumers’ short-term expectations negatively impacted the index reading, but the index remains near the mid-point of the last few years.
New Home Sales
New home sales for November slightly missed consensus expectations as the Census Bureau reported an annual pace of 664,000 compared to the 670,000 expected.
US Labor Market
Initial claims for unemployment benefits for the prior week fell to 219,000, continuing the trend lower from the first week of December’s small spike to 242,000. However, continuing claims rose to 1.91 million, the highest level since 2021.
Wrapping Up 2024
As we wrap up 2024, it turned out to be a strong year for many broad asset classes despite central banks around the globe navigating elevated inflation, a US presidential election, geopolitical events, and much more.
I’d like to leave you with the final line we’ve used since we started these commentaries back at the very height of market volatility in March 2020. Always remember that we create financial/investment plans not for the easy times, but to prepare for the tough ones.
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