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.