Your Trading Week Ahead — December 19th

Welcome to Your Trading Week Ahead for December 19th. It’s a holiday-shortened week with market’s closed on Friday in observance of Christmas. So, here’s what you need to know before Santa Claus gets into town…

Quick recap

Markets surged to near all-time highs last week following December’s FOMC meeting and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s latest comments on monetary policy. But the indices ultimately settled a bit lower — finishing the week close to where they started the month.

The S&P 500 closed lower by 1.95% at 4,620. The Dow followed a similar trend, finishing lower by 1.68% at 35,365. Tech stocks outpaced to the downside, as the Nasdaq closed -2.95% at 15,169.

In the world of crypto, Bitcoin failed to hold the $50k level it was trading above last Sunday. $BTC is currently down about 6% on the week. At writing, the leading cryptocurrency is trading just under $47k after going as low as $45,671 on Friday.

The rest of the crypto market is largely mixed on the week. Solana ($SOL) +5.3% and Terra ($LUNA) +24% have rebounded nicely from last week’s lows, while Avalanche ($AVAX) +26% and Hedera ($HBAR) +28% continue their move higher. Other coins like Polkadot ($DOT) -14%, Alogrand ($ALGO) -9.9%, and SHIBA INU ($SHIB) -15% are beginning to cool following their latest runs.

Here’s recent performance for some of the most popular crypto assets:

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What to watch this week

Inflation data

Traders are set to receive a ton of fresh economic data in the days ahead. Most notable will be the Berea of Economic Analysis’ latest PCE and core inflation readings due Thursday — which are expected to come in hot once again. The data will be important to watch after the Fed just increased its own inflation forecasts and ramped-up its narrative around impending rate hikes.

Earnings roundup

A few popular names report earnings amid the holiday hoopla. Micron ($MU), Carnival Corporation ($CCL), Nike ($NKE), and BlackBerry ($BB) highlight the week ahead.

Check out some of the most noteworthy reports to watch:

Economic calendar

There are plenty of events on the calendar this week with the potential to move markets. Here’s some of the most important things to watch:

• Leading economic indicators (Nov.) – Monday at 10am ET
• Current account deficit (Q3) – Tuesday at 8:30am ET
• Gross domestic product revision (SAAR Q3) – Tuesday at 8:30am ET
• Gross domestic income revision (SAAR Q3) – Tuesday at 8:30am ET
• Consumer confidence index (Dec.) – Tuesday at 10am ET
• Existing home sales (SAAR Dec.) – Tuesday at 10am ET
• Initial and continuing jobless claims – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Nominal consumer spending and personal income (Nov.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Real disposable income and consumer spending (Nov.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Core inflation (monthly & YoY Nov.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• PCE inflation (YoY Nov.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Durable goods and core capital goods orders (Nov.) – Thursday at 8:30am ET
• Five-year inflation expectations (Dec. final) – Thursday at 10am ET
• New home sales (SAAR Nov.) – Thursday at 10am ET
• University of Michigan Consumer sentiment index (Dec. final) – Thursday at 10am ET
• FRIDAY: U.S. stock and bond markets closed in observance of Christmas Day (Sat.)

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