Additional support for that view dates back two weeks, when New York Fed President John Williams signaled that lower rates could be on the horizon. In the interim, equity markets have rallied sharply, with the S&P 500 recovering 5%.
Full details of the PCE report are available from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Corporate Movers of the Week
Meta Platforms
Shares of Meta Platforms advanced 4% for the week after Bloomberg reported that the company intends to cut spending on its metaverse initiative by as much as 30%. The shift would allow chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to redirect capital toward projects with nearer-term revenue potential, including smart glasses and artificial-intelligence tools. Meta’s stock had weakened in late October when management raised 2024 capital-expenditure guidance, so the prospect of lower outlays provided relief to investors.
Salesforce
Salesforce surged 13% on the week, the strongest performance among the monitored portfolio holdings, following fiscal third-quarter results that exceeded expectations. The software company also lifted full-year guidance and reported additional paid contracts for Agentforce, its generative-AI platform. Although the latest rally narrowed the year-to-date decline, Salesforce shares remain down 22% in 2024 as the market debates the long-term impact of AI on the firm’s seat-based subscription model.
Imagem: Internet
CrowdStrike
CrowdStrike delivered better-than-forecast fiscal third-quarter earnings and robust forward guidance on Tuesday evening. Management cited record free cash flow, annual recurring revenue and operating income. Despite the positive numbers, the cybersecurity stock was little changed for the week, continuing a pattern in which the shares often trade flat or lower immediately after earnings before recovering later. Following the report, analysts at a major investing club reaffirmed a buy-equivalent rating and boosted their price objective to $550 from $520.
Portfolio Activity
The same investing club issued three trade alerts:
- Monday: Added to Boeing after the aerospace manufacturer stabilized from a steep post-earnings sell-off in November.
- Tuesday: Increased exposure to Procter & Gamble following a pullback sparked by the chief financial officer’s comments about a volatile U.S. operating environment. The purchase is intended to enhance the portfolio’s defensive posture should enthusiasm for AI-oriented names wane.
- Wednesday: Trimmed the position in Goldman Sachs to lock in profits after the stock closed at a record high.
Under the club’s trading rules, members receive an alert at least 45 minutes before any transaction is executed in the charitable trust. If a stock has been mentioned on television, trades cannot be placed until 72 hours after the alert.
Outlook
Investors now turn their attention to the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Dec. 12–13. A decision to hold rates steady is widely anticipated, but the cooler PCE reading has intensified debate over the timing of the first rate cut in 2024. Markets will parse Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks for clues on whether the recent moderation in inflation and resilient labor conditions are sufficient to shift policy. Until then, trading volumes are expected to remain light, with corporate news and any additional economic releases likely to dictate near-term direction.
Crédito da imagem: Shutterstock
