LIVEUpdated 6 mins agoUS stocks wavered on Thursday, with the major indexes struggling to build on the previous day’s surge amid another round of big bank earnings. Investors also watched the Capitol Hill confirmation hearing of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent.The S&P 500 (^GSPC) hovered just above the flatline while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 0.2% The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was little changed.Markets are coming off a major one-day rally on the heels of a surprise easing in consumer inflation that prompted questions about whether the pricing out of interest-rate cuts this year had gone too far. Stocks ripped higher on Wednesday on the back of the data and stellar earnings from major US lenders.Traders have now ramped up bets that the Federal Reserve lowers rates before July, reversing the pile-out that was sparked by the stronger-than-expected December jobs report.DJI – Free Realtime Quote • USD^DJI ^IXIC ^GSPC Advanced Chart Retail sales for December grew by 0.4%, versus expectations of 0.6%. The monthly gain slowed from November’s 0.7% increase. Weekly jobless claims rose more than expected to 217,000, versus the prior week’s upwardly revised 203,000.Meanwhile, Bank of America (BAC) results showed fourth quarter profit more than doubled as the bank benefitted from a Wall Street dealmaking revival that has also boosted earnings at its rivals. Its shares were up slightly in early trading. Morgan Stanley’s (MS) stock also rose after it posted a surge in quarterly profit before the bell.Elsewhere in earnings, UnitedHealth’s (UNH) fourth quarter revenue fell short of estimates, dented by weakness in its health insurance unit. The stock slid in early trading.Also taking focus Thursday was the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Bessent’s confirmation. Some of the topics touched upon during the meeting included tariffs, debt concerns and tax plans.LIVE 15 updatesDecember retail sales data showed the US economy likely ended 2024 growing at a solid pace amid questions over how quickly the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.The control group in Thursday’s release, which excludes several volatile categories and factors into the gross domestic product (GDP) reading for the quarter, increased by 0.7%, above economists’ estimates for 0.4% sales growth.”This was actually a strong report that boosts our fourth-quarter GDP growth estimate to 2.9% [from 2.7%],” Capital Economics chief North America economist Paul Ashworth wrote in a note to clients on Thursday.After the release, the Atlanta FedGDP Now Tool, which takes economic data released throughout the quarter to create GDP projection, now forecasts the US economy grew at an annualized pace of 3% in the fourth quarter. The projection moved up from 2.7% after the retail sales release. The nominee for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said he would support tougher sanctions against Moscow in order to end the Ukraine war,
Gio. Gen 16th, 2025
