Wall Street investors will have a host of significant reports to assess the health of the US economy and gauge the Federal Reserve’s next monetary policy path during the holiday-shortened week ahead.

Owing to the Thanksgiving holiday, the US stock markets will be closed on Thursday.

Among the economic indicators, market participants will be scrutinising delayed reports on September US retail sales, September’s Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation, and pending home sales for October.

On the earnings calendar, some major firms, including Alibaba, Dell Technologies, HP, and Deere, are scheduled to publish their third-quarter financial results.

Fed Rate Cut: Uncertainty Persists

Uncertainty persists over whether the Federal Reserve will reduce interest rates at its policy meeting on December 9-10, a move that was widely considered a certainty until late last month.

New York Fed President John Williams appeared to raise hopes on Friday when he stated that the central bank could still implement a cut “in the near term”.

Economic Calendar

On November 25 (Tuesday), separate reports on US retail sales for September, Producer Price Index (PPI) for September, S&P Case-Shiller home price index (20 cities) for September, consumer confidence for November, and pending home sales for October will be released.

On November 26 (Wednesday), a report on initial jobless claims for the week ended November 22 will be released.

November 27 (Thursday) is a Thanksgiving holiday.

On November 28 (Friday), a report on Chicago Business Barometer (PMI) for November will be released.

Earnings

Following companies are due to report third quarter results in the week ahead — Agilent Technologies, Zoom Communications, Symbotic, Alibaba, Analog Devices, Dell Technologies, Best Buy, Autodesk, Workday, Zscaler, HP, DICK’S Sporting Goods, J. M. Smucker, NIO, Deere, and Li Auto.

Markets Last Week

US stocks climbed on Friday as investors increased bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in December.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 493.15 points, or 1.08%, to 46,245.41, the S&P 500 gained 64.23 points, or 0.98%, to 6,602.99 and the Nasdaq Composite added 195.04 points, or 0.88%, to 22,273.08.

For the week, the Dow was down 1.9%, the S&P 500 was down about 2% and the Nasdaq was down 2.7%.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.06% from 4.10%.

In the bullion market, spot gold dropped 0.29% to $4,065.29 an ounce. US gold futures fell 0.05% to $4,054.30 an ounce.