Spencer Platt
Major market averages pushed higher on Wednesday as investors digested a rise in both jobless claims figures and durable goods orders ahead of Thanksgiving.
The Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) gained 0.8%, Dow (DJI) is higher by 0.2% while the S&P 500 (SP500) picked up 0.4%.
Among the 11 S&P sectors 10 are higher and led by the Consumer Discretionary and Info Tech space, while Energy has suffered the most.
Volume is traditionally low as investors get a jump on holiday travel.
The 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) was down 5 basis points to 3.70% and the 2-year yield (US2Y) was down 4 basis points to 4.47%.
The minutes of the last Fed meeting, where the FOMC hiked by another 75 basis points, arrive this afternoon.
“The Federal Reserve will be publishing the minutes of the last meeting, which raised rates by 0.75 percentage points in accordance with Fed Chair Powell’s relentless ‘hike, hike, hike’ tactic,” UBS’ Paul Donovan said. “There are signs that some members of the FOMC are questioning this Pavlovian policy, with comments hinting at a slowing in the pace of tightening.”
October durable goods orders jumped more than expected in October. Durable goods orders rose by 1.0% versus the forecasted 0.4% rise for the month.
Around the increase in durable goods, Pantheon Macroeconomics noted “We expect substantial further gains over the next year as the backlog of demand, which has built up over the past couple years, finally can be met.”
Weekly jobless claims rose by 17K to 240K compared to the 225K expected figure.
Pantheon Macroeconomics also stated: “This is disappointing but not entirely a surprise. We said… ‘If our take on the seasonals is wrong, the headline could be as high as 240K, the highest since early August’, and that’s exactly what happened. We are increasingly inclined to think that the trend in claims is now rising gently, as firms come under increasing pressure from the Fed’s aggressive tightening.”
October new home sales data came in higher than anticipated at 632K, economists predicted a drop in the rate to 570K.
Michigan Consumer Sentiment figures for November also came in and were 56.8, higher than the consensus thought of 55.
Among active stocks, Deere is up after beating on the top and bottom lines.