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Stocks Mixed
The S&P 500 posted a fractional decline, snapping a three-week string of gains, while the Dow dropped almost 2%. The NASDAQ rose slightly, as relatively strong results from communication services sector stocks helped the index outperform its peers.
For the second month in a row, the Consumer Price Index came in slightly above the previous month’s reading, with November’s annual rate of 2.7% topping October’s 2.6% result and September’s 2.4% figure. While the latest reading was in line with expectations, it was a further indication of recently stalled progress in bringing inflation closer to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 2.0% long-term target.
With inflation concerns lingering, yields of U.S. government bonds rose sharply, reversing course after a couple weeks of declines. The yield of the 10-year Treasury note closed around 4.40% on Friday—up from 4.15% at the end of the previous week and well above a recent low of 3.62% on September 16.
The European Central Bank on Thursday cut its benchmark lending rate for the fourth time this year, approving a quarter-point cut after the Swiss National Bank adopted a bigger-than-expected half-point reduction. The European Central Bank also downgraded its economic forecast, as it now expects GDP to grow 0.7% this year and 1.1% in 2025.
Companies in the S&P 500 boosted their stock buyback spending to $918 billion in the 12-month period that ended in September 2024, up nearly 17% from the same period a year earlier, S&P Dow Jones Indices reported. However, spending on stock repurchases in this year’s third quarter was down 4% compared with the first quarter.
At its two-day meeting concluding on Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to approve another interest-rate cut of a quarter percentage point. In mid-September, the Fed approved a half-point reduction, and it followed up in early November with a quarter-point cut.
Source: John Hancock Investment Management
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We enjoyed hosting Santa and Mrs. Clause at our office for another fun morning of holiday fun! Cookies were made (and eaten), pictures were taken, Maya was missed (on vacation) but most importantly, we all had a good time getting in the Christmas spirit. This event continues to grow each year, and we hope to see you in the future if you were not able to make it this time. | | |
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Dictionaries and publications have begun to share their “Word of the Year.” For 2024, Merriam-Webster Dictionary chose “polarization,” which is defined as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.” Here are some other notable words of the year:
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Manifest was at the top of the list for the Cambridge Dictionary. “When famous performers, star athletes, and influential entrepreneurs claim they have achieved something because they manifested it, they are using this verb in a more recent sense: to use specific practices to focus your mind on something you want, to try to make it become a reality.”
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Brain rot took the prize as Oxford University Press’s word of the year. Brain rot is the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.
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Demure was plucked from the crowd by Dictionary.com. For many years, demure was a compliment given to young women for being modest and reserved. In 2024, a content creator used it “humorously in a way that appeared to challenge and poke fun at widespread societal expectations of how women are supposed to look and behave,” reported Leslie Katz for Forbes.
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Allision was one of Merriam Webster’s runner-up words of the year. An allision occurs when a ship runs into a stationary object. The difference between “collision” and “allision” became more widely known after a cargo ship hit Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse.
In general, media stories, headlines, social media trends, and online search results help determine publications’ short lists for Word of the Year. Runner-up words for 2024 included totality, democracy, pander, brat, ecotarian, romantasy, dynamic pricing, slop, extreme weather, and resilience.
What is your choice for word of the year?
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AJ Advisors
www.ajadvice.com
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Phone: (615) 709-8709
Fax: (615) 505-3306
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John Stauffer, CFP®
Partner
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Andrew Quinn, CFP®
Partner
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