Weekly Economic Update: January 3, 2024

Presented by Nicholas Wealth Management

Ring out the old and usher in the new Last week was a short one for trading, bookended by the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Markets closed up again last week, with the S&P 500 marking its ninth straight weekly gain — the longest stretch in 20 years. The Nasdaq cemented yearly growth of more than 43%, its sixth-biggest annual gain. With many folks out enjoying an extended holiday week, it was a good thing data was scant last week. However, the data that did come out had a negative overall tone. Reports showed that Mid-Atlantic manufacturing fell sharply in November, while overall business activity in the Chicago region moved back into contraction territory. And despite expectations for an increase, pending home sales in November were flat. Finally, weekly jobless claims rose to their highest level (218,000) since the start of December. Headlines put artificial intelligence (AI) back in the spotlight last week, as The New York Times launched a lawsuit against generative AI companies for copyright infringement. Owners of the Old Gray Lady (as the Times is called) argued against use of the newspaper’s content to train AI language models like ChatGPT. Overall, it was a rather anti-climactic ending to a year filled with more than its share of ups and downs. Fortunately, we can put 2023 behind us — and start looking ahead to what 2024 may hold. Coming this week

• Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin will speak on Wednesday, plus we’ll get the minutes from the latest Fed meeting. Auto sales, job openings and manufacturing numbers will also be released.
• On Thursday, we’ll see the December ADP employment number and the newest weekly job claims.
• Finally, we’ll get the third piece of the employment trifecta on Friday, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ non-farm payrolls report. We’ll also see the latest unemployment rate, hourly wages and factory orders.

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