Buzz on Business for Wednesday, December 20^th, 2023

Stocks surge and volume swells, as the economic indicators point north. Tuesday's market roared in defiance of skepticism, leaving investors wondering – how long can this upward climb last?

Stock Market Report

The indexes gapped up at the open. Traded higher all day. And closed at their highs. And that almost never happens.

• The Dow Jones Industrials were up seven-tenths of a percent and closed at a new record high, at 37,558, up 252 points.
• The S+P 500 was up 28 points, that’s six-tenths of a percent and they closed at 4,768, fifty points from its own new record high.
• The Nasdaq Composite closed above 15,000 for the first time since January of 2022. It closed at 15,003, that’s a gain of seven-tenths of a percent or ninety-eight points.
• The XRT Retailers had a great day. They were up two percent on the session and start the day today at $74.13, up $1.32.

Bond Markets

Rates were down, but not by much.

• The two-year Treasury closed with a yield of 4.441%, that’s off almost two basis points.
• The yield on the twenty-year was also off two ticks. It now yields 4.221

Oil and Gold

• Oil continued its mini rally, now into its fifth day. It was up $1.32 and closed at $74.13.
• Gold was up $11.60 and closed at $2,052.10 a troy ounce.

Data Deluge on Tap

Not much earnings news. Earnings season has pretty much passed into history. But, there was some economic news for us to think about while we wait for the all-important inflation data coming at the end of the week.

Housing Starts beat expectations and last month's number by a wide margin. Building permits missed, but not by much. Housing has bounced around a bit lately, haven’t we all, but remains strong given the run up in interest rates in the last year.

Speaking of interest rates, we get the average mortgage rate, mortgage applications and Existing Home Sales and a bunch more housing data later this morning.

Readers should check back tomorrow for an update.

Many Thanks to Our Readers and Listeners

On a personal note, over the course of the last week or so, we’ve had three podcast listeners contact us and tell us how much they’ve enjoyed the Buzz on Business. The podcast is new and small, and we are truly amazed and grateful that anyone listens at all. The fact that three of our listeners thought to contact us in the space of a few days is surely a coincidence but so very gratifying. Thank you.

So, let me invite all our listeners and readers to please feel free to contact us in the comments section at the end of every article, with similar comments or complaints, corrections or suggestions.