It was a low-key start to the week for stocks. But while today's price action was muted, there is plenty of activity occurring later this week that could spark big moves for stocks.
The main indexes chopped between positive and negative territory throughout the session. At the close, the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.07% at 14,241, the S&P 500 was off 0.2% at 4,550, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2% lower at 35,333.
Today's price action "suggests a market that is digesting four weeks of gains and focused on a week of important Fedspeak and a host of key economic data, particularly the release of the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price (PCE) index, which could have an important impact on interest rates," says Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial.
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Be a smarter, better informed investor.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
Fed's favorite inflation data will be released Thursday
The PCE index is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation and the October data will be released Thursday morning. Market participants are especially keen to see the results of this report, especially in the wake of the October Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI), which showed inflation is easing.
That data has helped fuel a major rally in stocks this month as the "market appears to have embraced the idea that slowing economic data will hasten the arrival of market-friendly rate cuts, even though the Fed has continued to telegraph otherwise," says Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.
Indeed, futures traders are pricing in a 42% chance of a quarter-point rate cut in May, according to CME Group. However, the Fed's most recent dot plot indicated that most members support higher-for-longer interest rates.
Wall Street will watch for more hints on interest rates when Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks Friday morning. "If he dishes out dovish comments, investors may finish the week by enthusiastically stocking up on equities and bonds," says José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers. However, Powell runs the risk of disappointing investors if he keeps the door open for more rate hikes," Torres adds.
Shopify stock sizzles on "epic" Black Friday sales
Higher prices didn't keep consumers from spending big this Black Friday. According to Adobe Analytics, online shoppers spent a record-high $9.8 billion, up 7.5% year-over-year, on the biggest shopping day of the year. Adobe expects another $12 billion in online sales will happen on Cyber Monday (which is today).
One beneficiary of these booming online sales is e-commerce merchant platform Shopify (SHOP). The company said its merchants saw a combined $4.1 billion in global Black Friday sales, up 22% year-over-year. "Another epic, record-breaking Black Friday in the books for Shopify merchants," said Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify, in a press release. "The world showed up for our merchants, and the excitement is only building, with Cyber Monday still to come."
Shares of Shopify jumped 4.9% Monday, but then SHOP investors are used to this sort of action by now. The growth stock is up more than 112% in 2023 and is now trading at its highest level since March 2022. E-commerce stocks Amazon.com (AMZN, +0.7%) and MercadoLibre (MELI, +4.2%) also enjoyed notable gains today.
Related content
- When Is the Next CPI Report?
- Your Backup Gmail Account Could Disappear This Week
- Why Tesla Sued the Swedish Transportation Agency and Postal Service
-
New RMD Rules: Can You Pass This Retirement Distributions Tax Quiz?Quiz Take our RMD quiz to test your retirement tax knowledge. Learn about RMD rules, IRS deadlines, and tax penalties that could shrink your savings.
-
I'm 61 and need $50,000 for home repairs. Should I borrow given today's rates or take a withdrawal from my $950,000 401(k)?We asked financial experts for advice.
-
Stocks Bounce But End With Big Weekly Losses: Stock Market TodayThe stock market rout continued on Friday, but a late-day burst of buying power brought the main indexes off their session lows.
-
Risk Is Off Again, Dow Falls 397 Points: Stock Market TodayMarket participants are weighing still-solid earnings against both expectations and an increasingly opaque economic picture.
-
Stocks Rally as Investors Buy the Dip: Stock Market TodayMost sectors are "go" only a day after talk of bubbles, extended valuations and narrow breadth undermined any kind of exuberance.
-
Stocks Retreat as Bubble Worries Ramp Up: Stock Market TodayValuation concerns took hold on Wall Street today, sending Palantir and its fellow tech stocks lower.
-
Amazon Surge Sends S&P 500, Nasdaq Higher to Start November: Stock Market TodayAmazon inked a $38 billion cloud deal with OpenAI, which sent the stock to the top of the Dow Jones on Monday.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Home Depot Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayHome Depot stock has been a buy-and-hold banger for truly long-term investors.
-
3 Major Changes Investors Must Prepare for in 2026A possible stock market bubble. Trump accounts. Tokenized stocks. These are just three developments investors need to be aware of in the coming months.
-
Stocks Close Out Strong Month With Solid Amazon Earnings: Stock Market TodayAmazon lifted its spending forecast as its artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives create "a massive opportunity."
