STORY: U.S. stocks ended little changed on Thursday, giving up an initial rebound following a sharp selloff the day before.
The Dow ticked up marginally, barely snapping a ten-session losing skid, its longest since 1974. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each ticked down about a tenth of a percent.
The prior session saw all three indexes suffer their biggest one-day percentage declines since mid-summer.
Wednesday’s selloff came after the Fed said it may cut rates just twice in 2025.
George Cipolloni is portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management.
“Yesterday was a historic Fed day. Treasury moved up about ten basis points, Treasury yields on the ten year, and that was the most since 2013. Beyond that, we saw the VIX go up 74%, which was its second-largest spike ever. And then so we saw across the board stocks react to that. [FLASH] Going into January is going to be very, very much dependent upon interest rates and expectations for inflation. So every reading will be important from here.”
Speaking of important readings, the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, is due on Friday.
Fed officials expect core PCE – which excludes volatile food and energy prices – to be stuck at 2.5% through 2025, better than this year’s figure but significantly higher than the Fed’s 2% target.
Stocks on the move Thursday included Micron Technology, which slumped more than 16% following its forecast of quarterly revenue and profit below estimates.
Shares of homebuilder Lennar lost more than 5% after reporting fourth-quarter results that came in below estimates.
And shares of FedEx, up 1% at the close, gained more than 8% in extended trading, after the delivery service announced the much-anticipated spinoff of its freight trucking business.
