Stock market today: After finishing the strongest month of the year, Wall Street is neutral early Friday. The S&P 500 futures were 0.2% lower before the bell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were basically flat.
Throughout much of November, markets rose steadily as investors grew hopeful that the Federal Reserve would finally stop raising interest rates in its fight to control inflation. Recent economic data backs up that point of view. On Thursday, the Fed’s favored measure of inflation indicated a cooling last month, sending stocks soaring in the final hour of trade.
Wall Street expects the Fed to keep interest rates constant at its December meeting and into early 2024, when it may consider interest rate reductions. The most recent figures on economic growth and consumer confidence also indicate that the Fed will be able to pull off a “soft landing” for the US economy, which means slowing the economy without causing it to enter a recession.
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Pfizer slumped 4.6% in early trade Friday after the pharmaceutical company said that a new twice-daily oral weight loss medicine would not advance to phase 3 tests due to side effects. Pfizer stated that the research fulfilled its primary aim of significant weight loss but that it would transfer its attention to a once-daily formulation of the drug.
The Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate-raising program lifted its benchmark interest rate from near zero in 2022 to its highest level in two decades by the middle of 2023. The goal has been to bring inflation back down to the Fed’s 2% target rate.
Tesla shares fell 2.2% the day after the electric vehicle manufacturer delivered a dozen of its long-delayed Cybertrucks. At lunchtime in Europe, the DAX in Germany and the CAC 40 in Paris each climbed 0.7%, while the FTSE 100 in the United Kingdom gained 0.6%.
In Asian trading, the Hong Kong Hang Seng index fell 1.2% to 16,838.89, close to a one-year low, while the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.1% to 3,031.64. According to a private sector survey released on Friday, Chinese industrial activity unexpectedly increased in November, the fastest growth in three months. Caixin’s report contrasted with an official one released the day before, which showed poor manufacturing demand.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 17 points to 33,431.51 after a comparable private-sector survey revealed that Japan’s manufacturing contracted at the sharpest rate in nine months in November. The Kospi in South Korea fell 1.2% to 2,505.01. The S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia fell 0.2% to 7,073.20. The Sensex in India rose 0.8%, while the SET in Bangkok fell 0.1%.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences mortgage rates, remained stable at 4.34% early Friday. In electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, US benchmark crude oil slid 10 cents to $75.86 a barrel. On Thursday, it fell from $1.90 to $75.96 per barrel.
Brent crude fell 15 cents to $80.71 a barrel, the worldwide benchmark. The dollar rose to 148.25 Japanese yen from 148.20 yen in currency trading. The euro declined from $1.0890 to $1.0876. The S&P 500 gained 0.4% on Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.5%. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.2%. All indexes gained ground in November.
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