The Christmas holiday meant that the most important news was released during the first half of the week.

On Tuesday, the preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) data from the last three months was made public. During that time, the economy grew by an estimated 4.3 percent. This was significantly higher than the projected 3.3 percent and also higher than the 3.8 percent posted last quarter.

Also on Tuesday, the CB consumer confidence report was repleased, coming in at 89.1. This was lower than both the projected 91.7 and last month’s figure of 92.9, which was upwardly revised when this month’s report came out. This means that consumers aren’t buying that the economy is going to be great in a few months despite what recent numbers suggest.

On Wednesday, the unemployment claims data for the last seven days came out. Over that time, 214,000 people requested benefits. This was about 10,000 more than expected, and it was also about 10,000 more than the previous week.

The S&P 500 was up 1.93 percent this week to close at 6,929. This was a gain of 131 points over last week, and most of the gain occurred on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The index made its low of the week on Monday when it dipped to 6,858 before going up the rest of the week. The high came on Friday morning when the market peaked at 6,944.

The Dow was up 1.2 percent to close at 48,710 at the end of the day Friday, which was a gain of 575 points for the week. As with the S&P, the Dow did most of its work during the first three days of the week before staying in a tight range on Friday. On Monday, the market made its low of the week at 48,245 and made its high of the week on Wednesday when it peaked at 48,741.

Finally, the Nasdaq was also up this week finishing 1.87 percent higher to close at 25,644. This was a gain of 471 points last week. The Nasdaq saw most of its gains over the first three days of the week. On Tuesday, the index made its low of the week when it dipped to 25,416 while it made its high of the week on Friday morning when it peaked at 25,710.

There were a couple of notable international releases. The Canadian GDP shrunk by 0.3 percent over the last quarter. On Thursday night, Japan announced that inflation was 2.3 percent on an annualized basis, which was lower than the projected 2.5 percent.

The upcoming week is likely to be another slow one as the markets will close for New Year’s. Tuesday will see the release of the minutes from the last FOMC meeting, which is likely to further highlight the differing opinions between the voting members. On Wednesday, unemployment claim figures for the past seven days will be made public. Finally, Friday sees the release of the final manufacturing PMI for December.

This week was another consequential one for investors as several important data points were released. Those data points included the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) version of the nonfarm payroll report, retail sales information from November and CPI figures from November. Unemployment figures data as well as the Flash Services and Flash Manufacturing PMI figures also added volatility to markets.

On Tuesday, the BLS reported that 64,000 jobs had been added in November compared to an expected 51,000. In somewhat of a surprise move, the October jobs report was also made public, and it revealed that the economy lost 105,000 jobs that month.

Average hourly earnings were up 0.4 percent in October and cooled to just 0.1 percent in November. It was expected that wages would go up by 0.3 percent during that time. Despite the increase in job creation, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.6 percent, which is a sign that more people are entering the workforce.

Retail sales for November were flat while core retail sales were up 0.4 percent over the past month. Retail sales overall were expected to be up 0.1 percent while core retail sales were expected to be up 0.2 percent.

The Flash Manufacturing PMI came in at 51.8 while the Flash Services PMI came in at 52.9. Although both figures failed to meet analyst expectations, they indicate that both the manufacturing and service sectors were in a growth cycle in November.

On Thursday, it was revealed that inflation in November was up 2.7 percent on an annualized basis. This was lower than the projected 3.1 percent.
There were 224,000 filings for unemployment benefits over the past week, which matched analyst expectations. It was also a slight pullback from last week’s figure of 237,000 claims.

The S&P 500 was down 11 points this week to close at 6,834. This was a loss of 0.16 percent for the index on the final full trading week of December. Despite the loss, the index is still near all-time highs. Over the past five days, the index made a high of 6,844 on Monday morning and a low of 6,734 on Wednesday morning.

The Dow was down roughly 500 points this week to close at 48,134. This was a loss of just over 1 percent. Over the last five trading days, the market made a high of 48,630 on Monday morning and a low of 47,902 on Thursday morning.

Finally, the Nasdaq was down 27 points to close at 25,346. This was a loss of 0.11 percent for the index that features hot names such as Nvidia, Apple and Tesla. For the week, the index made its weekly high on Monday and its weekly low on Wednesday.

In international news, the Bank of Japan decided to increase the nation’s key interest rate by 25 basis points to just under .75 percent. Meanwhile, Great Britain reduced its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.75 percent and the European Union (EU) maintained the status quo at 2.15 percent.

The upcoming week will likely be quiet as Thursday is the Christmas holiday. It’s likely that both Wednesday and Friday will see limited action as well. Gross domestic product data will be released on Tuesday while unemployment claims will be released on Wednesday.