US stocks continued to climb over the first week over of November on economic news, the most recent Fed meeting, and corporate earnings. The S&P 500 gained 2.0% and the Dow was up 1.4% for the week. Abroad, the FTSE All World Ex US rose 1.2% for the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell again to 1.45% from 1.55%.
The Fed announced at the conclusion of their November meeting that they would begin tapering their $120 billion a month in bond purchases by reducing it $15 billion a month. The move was made so that the Fed could potentially raise the Federal Funds rate next year. They also said the supply chain bottlenecks that are driving inflation are expected to persist well into next year, but they still felt the current issues wouldn’t drive “permanently higher inflation.”
US employers added 531,000 jobs in October, topping expectations, and the largest gain in three months. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.6% from 4.8%.
China’s factory activity contracted for a second straight month and was the worst reading since February 2020.
US manufacturing activity continued to expand in October and topped estimates.
After OPEC+’s most recent meeting they agreed to continue on their gradual current pace to increase oil output.
The Bank of England decided to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged surprising investors.
The House passed the $1 trillion infrastructure bill sending it to the President’s desk for signature.