U.S. stocks closed modestly higher Tuesday, while Treasury bond extended yesterday's rally, as markets digest a mixed set of data underscoring the broader economy's end-of-year momentum while eying a key inflation report later in the week.
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Updated at 5:40 PM EST
Wall Street is mourning the passing of on of its legendary investors, Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger, who died today in Los Angeles at the age of 99.
Related: Berkshire Hathaway investing giant Charlie Munger dies at 99
Updated at 1:27 PM EST
Another poor bond auction
The Treasury's $39 billion sale of new 7-year notes saw another demand slump, auction data indicated, with investors placing bids worth a total of $95 billion, or 2.44 times the auction amount, compared to the 'bid-to-cover' ratio of 2.7 recorded last month.
Indirect bidders, which are largely comprised of foreign central banks, took around 63.9% of the sale, down from the 70.6% tally notched in October.
Benchmark Treasury yields were largely unchanged, however, with 10-yeat notes trading at 4.369% and 2-year paper marked at 4.817%.
Stocks were also steady, with the S&P 500 down 3 points and the Dow holding on to a 43 point advance.
Updated at 10:44 AM EST
Soft open, but soft landing?
Fed Governor Christopher Waller, speaking at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, said he was "increasingly confident that policy is currently well-positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2%", adding there was "no reason" the central bank couldn't deliver a so-called 'soft landing' for the world's biggest economy.
The dollar index traded at a fresh 3-month low of 102.890 in both the wake of Waller's comments and a surprise improvement in the Conference Board's monthly reading of consumer confidence, which slipped from a revised 102.6 in October to 102.0 in November.
Stocks are now edging higher on the session, with the S&P 500 up just 4 points and the Dow up 98.8 points.
Updated at 9:52 AM EST
Stocks open soft
Stocks opened modestly lower, but largely in-line with pre-market indications, even with the broader pullback in Treasury yields. The S&P 500 was marked 6 points, or 0.13% in the red while the Nasdaq slipped 26 points.
The Dow edged around 2 points higher thanks in part to a solid start for Boeing (BA) -) following an upgrade from RBC.
Updated at 9:17 AM EST
Micron slides
Micron Technology (MU) -) shares are a notable pre-market mover, falling more than 3.5%, after the chipmaker updated its near-term profit forecasts ahead of an appearance by CEO Sanjay Mehrotra at a tech conference in Arizona.
Related: Micron slides after updating Q1 sales forecast, citing improved supply and pricing
Updated at 9:00 AM EST
Bond yields nudge lower with auction in focus
Treasury yields are inching modestly lower in early Tuesday trading ahead of a $39 billion auction of 7-year notes later in the session. Benchmark 10-year notes were last marked at 4.396%, while 2-year notes were trading at 4.865%
Updated at 7:52 AM EST
Gas Prices slide ahead of holiday season
U.S. gasoline prices neared the lowest levels in a year, according to data from the AAA website, with the national average for a regular gallon pegged at $3.246 and extending a ten-week stretch of declines, the longest since the summer of 2022.
Updated at 7:06 AM EST
Dollar Doldrums
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its global peers, is testing early August lows Tuesday as traders see a dovish Fed rate landscape set against still-hawkish outlooks from central banks in Europe and the United Kingdom.
The dollar index was last marked 0.01% higher on the session at 103.213 just 10 ticks from levels last reached in the first week of August.
Stock Market Today
Treasury yields moved firmly lower in yesterday's session, taking benchmark 10-year notes to around 4.396% in overnight trading, following a weaker-than-expected reading for October new home sales as well as a report from the Dallas Federal Reserve showing softening manufacturing activity.
A solid, but by no means spectacular, $109 billion auction of two benchmark bonds, including a $54 billion sale of 2-year notes, added to the downward move in yields, with markets looking again to gauge both domestic and foreign demand in a $39 billion 7-year auction later in the session.
The soft economic data somewhat offset a firm reading of consumer spending over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period, with overall sales rising 2.5% from last year, according to Mastercard, amid a record surge in 'buy now, pay later' purchases from cash-strapped customers.
The figures, while indicative of an economy that is likely to avoid recession in the near-term, did little to suggest that inflation prospects will be stoked by consumer spending over the final months of the year and beyond, and traders continue to bet that the Fed has ended its rate-hiking cycle and will begin lowering borrowing costs in the spring of next year.
The CME Group's FedWatch, in fact, puts the chances of a May rate cut at around 50/50, with notably higher odds that the reductions will begin in June.
Thursday's reading of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the core PCE price index, will go a long way towards confirming that view, as will a Friday speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at at Spelman College in Atlanta.
In the meantime, markets are likely to focus on comments from policymakers including Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and boards member Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman later in the
In other markets, gold prices held near six-months highs at $2,014.75 per ounce in overnight trading, pegging the bullion at just $60 from the all-time highs it reached in 2020, while oil prices rebounded from yesterday's slump ahead of Thursday's OPEC+ meeting in Vienna.
Brent futures contracts for January delivery, the global pricing benchmark, were last seen $1.25 higher at $81.22 per barrel while WTI contracts for the same month, which are tightly-linked to U.S. gasoline prices, rose $1.28 cents to $76.14 per barrel.
In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 was red for a second consecutive session, falling 0.5% in late Frankfurt trading, following a warning on possible rate hikes from Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, who echoed similar remarks from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde yesterday.
Overnight in Asia, the region-wide MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was marked 0.44% higher into the close of trading, although stocks in Hong Kong were down 0.2% amid renewed concerns for China's indebted property sector.
Japan's Nikkei 225, which is on pace for a November gain of 8%, its best in three years, slipped 0.12% to end the session at 33,408.39 points.
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