What happened last week…
On Friday, the DJIA, S&P 500, and NASDAQ all closed at record highs. The DJIA is positive in back-to-back weeks, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ extended their win streak to three weeks. Performances last week were as follows: DJIA (1.05%), S&P 500 (1.22%), NASDAQ (2.21%).
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) loweredinterest ratesby 25 basis points, as expected, to a new range of 4.00% to 4.25%. The vote was 11-to-1. Fed Governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, both dissenting votes at the last FOMC meeting, agreed with the size of the rate reduction at this meeting. It is the first reduction since last December. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said, “You can think of this, in a way, as a risk management cut.” Federal Reserve officials indicated that there could be two more rate cuts before the end of this year. For 2026, the current forecast is for a single rate cut.
On Monday, the Senate confirmedStephen Miran, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, to fill a vacated seat on the Federal Reserve. In August, former Fed Governor Adriana Kugler resigned. Miran will serve until January 31, 2026, which is when Kugler’s term was set to end. During the Fed’s rate decision on Wednesday, Miran was the lone dissenting vote as he favored a 50-basis point cut.
President Donald Trump advocated for companies to switch reportingquarterly earningsto a semiannual basis instead. Public companies have been required to report earnings on a quarterly basis since 1970. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is examining the idea, which requires a majority vote. In 2018, the SEC considered the change but ultimately left it intact. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said a rule change will be proposed and be under consideration.
Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about a deal that would allowTikTokto remain available in the United States. The framework of a deal is reportedly in place where the American business side of TikTok would be owned by a consortium that includesOracle(ORCL), Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz. The deadline to get a deal done has been extended to December 16.
Happening this week…
The following company reports earnings this week: COST.
On Wednesday,new home salesfor August are expected to be 650,000. On Thursday,existing home salesfor August are expected to be 3.98 million.
On Thursday, theGDP growth rate(final estimate) for Q2 2025 is expected to match the second reading of 3.3%. The estimate is higher than the Q1 2025 reading.
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- The Rockline Team
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