Stock Futures Slip to End Volatile Week of Trading; Intel Shares Plummet on Soft Outlook; Gold Sets Latest All-Time High

The Federal Reserve Is Still Dealing With the Shutdown’s ‘Data Fog’

FROM 40 minutes ago

The 43-day government shutdown may feel like ancient history, but it’s still fouling up key economic data.

The government’s official reports on inflation have been both delayed and distorted by the shutdown that spanned October and part of November. That’s complicating the job of Federal Reserve officials who meet next week to set the nation’s monetary policy.

Thursday’s report on Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation, which normally covers December, instead covered only October and November, as the Bureau of Economic Analysis played catch-up. Monthly PCE reports won’t get back to their regular schedule until April.

The other major inflation report, the Consumer Price Index, was also affected. The Bureau of Labor Statistics skipped gathering October data entirely, since the agency could not carry out the surveys it uses to make the report. The agency also collected prices later in November than it normally would, leading some economists to speculate that holiday sales may have distorted the data.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

After Trump’s Greenland Deal, Wall Street Is Talking Up the ‘TACO Trade’ Again. What’s Next?

FROM 1 hr 39 min ago

Yesterday was Taco Thursday on Wall Street.

U.S. stocks, which rallied Wednesday, extended their gains Thursday after President Donald Trump said he would not use force to take over Greenland nor impose new tariffs on a group of European nations after the U.S. and NATO reached a “framework of a future deal” on Greenland’s sovereignty. 

The détente revived talk on Wall Street of the TACO, or “Trump Always Chickens Out,” concept, which broadly refers to the president’s habit of threatening steep tariffs or other dramatic actions before reducing, delaying, or canceling them. This has inspired the so-called TACO Trade, in which investors buy assets rattled by the president’s threats under the assumption they’ll eventually rebound. 

“TACO” entered Wall Street’s lexicon via Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong. “The US administration does not have a very high tolerance for market and economic pressure, and will be quick to back off when tariffs cause pain,” wrote Armstrong in May as stocks rebounded from the carnage of “Liberation Day.”

Later that month, Trump appeared to confirm Armstrong’s theory. Stocks soared on May 12 after the U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day pause on tariffs exceeding 100%, and jumped again weeks later when Trump announced a similar pause on tariffs targeting the EU. 

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

Stock Futures Slip to End Volatile Week of Trading

FROM 2 hr 15 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average pointed down 0.3%.

S&P 500 futures also slipped 0.3%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.4% lower.