There were a number of important news announcements impacting the market. Inflation data was released while a bevy of retail sales and price change information came out during the middle of the week.
On Tuesday, monthly and annual CPI data was made public based on information gathered through the end of December. During December, overall inflation was up 0.3 percent while core inflation was up 0.2 percent. Overall inflation matched analyst expectations while core inflation came in lower than the expected 0.3 percent increase. On an annualized basis, the inflation rate was 2.7 percent, which was exactly what was predicted prior to the report’s release.
Wednesday saw the release of retail sale and price producer index (PPI) figures for the month of November. The government decided not to release data from December likely because of the shutdown late in 2025. In November, the core PPI was flat compared to an expected increase of 0.2 percent. The overall PPI was up 0.2 percent, which was in line with expectations.
Retail sales were up 0.6 percent compared to an expected increase of 0.5 percent while core retail sales were up 0.5 percent compared to an expected increase of 0.4 percent. October’s PPI data was also released on Wednesday morning and found that core PPI was up 0.3 percent while overall PPI was up 0.1 percent.
On Thursday, unemployment claims data for the last seven days was made public. During that time, 198,000 requests for benefits were made compared to an expected 215,000.
The S&P 500 was relatively flat this week dropping 9.95 points to finish Friday’s trading at 6,940. This was a drop of 0.14 percent for an index that has had a relatively choppy start to 2026. On Monday, the market made its high of the week when it peaked at 6,985. The index then reversed and hit its low of the week on Wednesday afternoon when it bottomed out at 6,890. Thursday and Friday were spent vacillating inside of this range.
Those who traded Dow stocks or futures were also likely frustrated by the lack of movement from the index. On Monday, the market made a high of 49,587 before reversing and hitting a low of 48,879 on Wednesday. The Dow finished Friday’s trading at 49,359, which was a gain of 87 points on the week.
Finally, the Nasdaq was also rangebound for most of the week. Like the other two indexes, it made a high on Monday and a low on Wednesday. The weekly high was 25,809 while the low was 25,280. On Friday, the market closed at 25,529, which was 145 points lower than Monday’s opening.
In international news, Great Britain announced on Thursday night that its gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.3 percent over the last month. This beat analyst expectations of an expansion of just 0.1 percent.
The first half of next week looks to be a slow one for traders in the United States. Monday is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, which means banks and federal buildings will be closed. On Thursday, the Core PCE Price Index is scheduled to be released in addition to final GDP data from the third quarter of 2025. The release date was delayed by the government shutdown. Finally, the Flash Manufacturing PMI and Flash Services PMI will be released on Friday.