Main US indexes green; Nasdaq out front, up ~0.9%
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US 10-Year Treasury yield edges up to ~4.27% Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at
<h3>DATA BLIZZARD: PCE, GDP, JOBLESS CLAIMS</h3>
Investors were treated to a raft of fresh and stale indicators on Thursday, offering both glimmers of hope and reasons for worry. Combined, however, they did little to move the needle with respect to Fed policy expectations. In a slightly stale - but crucial - economic release, the Commerce Department’s wide-ranging Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report (USPCE=ECI) offered few surprises.
Starting with the PCE price index, Powell &amp; Co’s pet inflation yardstick showed price growth nearly stuck the consensus landing in November.
As expected, prices rose by 0.2% in the penultimate month of 2025 - down from the prior month’s 0.3% - and held firm at 2.8% year-over-year. The annual gauge was 10 basis points hotter than the previous month.
Stripping away volatile food and energy prices, core PCE printed as expected, rising 0.2% and 2.8%, respectively.
Taken together with the other three major inflation measures - which are still being released in fits and starts following the government shutdown - it can be said that price growth, while not exactly heating up, remains well to the north of the Federal Reserve’s average 2% inflation target.
”(The report) is stale, there’s no question about it, but it shows that inflation is still elevated, but it’s not accelerating and that’s good news,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities tells Reuters. “But that doesn’t change the fact that the Fed is going to stay on hold next week and their comments are likely to be a bit on the hawkish side.”
Elsewhere in the report, personal income increased 0.3%, weaker than the 0.4% increase economists predicted, while consumer spending stood pat at 0.5%.
Drilling down, expenditures on goods rose by 0.6%, while outlays on services decelerated to 0.2% from October’s 0.3%.
Disposable income rose by 0.1%, which pushed the saving rate - or the unspent portion of disposable income - down to a very low 3.5%.
While the saving rate is often viewed as a barometer of consumer anxiety, this extremely low reading suggests budgets are being squeezed by rising costs, much of it likely tariff-related.
And if spending continues to outpace income growth, Cardillo adds, “At some point that’s going to weaken consumption. The bottom line is tariffs are hitting the consumer’s pocketbook, not corporations.” The U.S. economy expanded by 4.4% at a quarterly annualized rate in last year’s July-to-September period, a bit more robust than the 4.3% growth analysts expected, according to the Commerce Department’s final take on third-quarter GDP USGDPF=ECI.
Delving deeper, private domestic investment was unchanged from Q2, with increases in equipment and intellectual property segments canceled out by declines in non-residential and residential structures. Government spending surged by 2.2%, entirely attributable to a 2.7% increase at the federal level. Trade was a net contributor, with imports falling 4.4% (a deceleration from Q2’s tariff-prompted 29.3% plunge) and exports rebounding, jumping 9.6%.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economy, increased by 3.5%, a solid acceleration from Q2’s 2.5% growth. Outlays by American consumers contributed 2.3 percentage points to the headline.
It’s all well and good, and it’s also ancient history. What about more recent economic growth?
“By our estimates, strong growth extended into the final three months of 2025,” says Oren Klachkin, financial markets economist at Nationwide. “Even after accounting for the drag from the shutdown, we are tracking buoyant Q4-25 real GDP growth at 3.5%.” Moving to the labor market, 200,000 U.S. workers joined the queue outside the unemployment office USJOB=ECI last week, a nominal increase from the prior week’s 199,000 and 10,000 fewer than analysts anticipated.
The underlying trend of initial jobless claims - as expressed by the four-week moving average - is moving sideways with a slight downward bias. Ongoing jobless claims USJOBN=ECI, reported on a one-week lag, unexpectedly dipped by 1.4% to 1.926 million, or 51,000 shy of economists’ projections.
The report should ease some concern over softness in the “employment” side of the Fed’s dual mandate.
“The level of claims is just very low, plain and simple,” writes Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “This suggests that concerns about a weakening labor market are overstated.”
“If the payroll growth rate is slowing, it is not because of a surge in layoffs,” Weinberg says.
(Stephen Culp)
<h3>EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS: BRAZIL’S MAG 7: LESS SILICON, MORE SAMBA CLICK HERE THE MULTIPLEX HANGOVER: WHY HOLLYWOOD’S BOX OFFICE RECOVERY IS STILL ELUSIVE CLICK HERE US STOCKS TAKE PCE IN STRIDE, HOLD MODEST GAINS CLICK HERE FIVE BLACK SWANS FOR 2026: WHAT BCA THINKS INVESTORS NEED TO KNOW CLICK HERE SMALL CAPS STANDING TALL CLICK HERE KEEP SNAPPING UP WEAKNESS IN EU DEFENCE STOCKS - JPM CLICK HERE IS MEDTECH READY TO TURN THE CORNER? CLICK HERE EUROPE HITCHES A RIDE ON THE TACO RALLY CLICK HERE STOXX SET FOR TACO TUESDAY CLICK HERE EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: STOXX HEADS FOR GAINS CLICK HERE</h3>
Inflation gauges
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/zgpoydywepd/inflation.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" width="651" height="526" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/zgpoydywepd/inflation.png"/>
Personal consumption and the saving rate
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/jnvwkokgrvw/perscons.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" width="599" height="374" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/jnvwkokgrvw/perscons.png"/>
GDP contributors
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/gdvzjgjrjvw/gdp.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" width="749" height="489" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/gdvzjgjrjvw/gdp.png"/>
Initial and continuing jobless claims
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/xmvjqwqglpr/joblessclaims.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" width="599" height="400" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/xmvjqwqglpr/joblessclaims.png"/>

Main US indexes are up, with the Nasdaq leading at ~0.9%. The Euro STOXX 600 index rose ~1.1%. The dollar fell, while bitcoin and crude oil dropped over 1%. The US 10-Year Treasury yield increased to ~4.27%. The latest PCE report showed inflation growth at 2.8% year-over-year, with personal income rising 0.3%. The US economy expanded by 4.4% in Q3, with consumer spending increasing by 3.5%. Jobless claims rose slightly to 200,000, indicating a stable labor market. Overall, economic indicators suggest moderate growth and persistent inflation concerns.

- The article discusses recent performance of US markets, highlighting gains in main indexes and specific sectors, with Nasdaq leading and consumer services performing well.  
- Economic indicators such as the PCE report and GDP growth demonstrate sustained inflation above the Federal Reserve's target, with implications for policy decisions, while jobless claims suggest labor market stability.  
- Overall, consumer spending remains healthy, but rising costs may pressure disposable incomes, indicating potential challenges ahead for continued economic strength.

Reuters

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LIVE MARKETS-Data blizzard: PCE, GDP, jobless claims