US equities finished yesterday’s Fed Day higher, closing near the day’s best levels following Powell’s press conference as commentary didn’t evolve into anything more Hawkish than expected. You can read our Fed Recap for more details. Small caps outperformed though riskier areas like thematic baskets were under pressure. The S&P 500 ticked above 6900 at its high. Treasury yields bull-steepened with the short-end down ~7bp while the long end fell ~3bp. With that major event in the rearview mirror, we can turn our attention to the last major lingering issue heading into year-end- that status of Die Hard as a Christmas movie. Today the S&P began the day in the red and moved to its lows, close to testing yesterday’s lows early in the session and down ~1%. However, we found our footing and began to climb after that, getting into positive territory as we finish writing. Tech (and Semis in particular) are the laggards. Open AI introduced its latest Chat GPT model around 1pm. Alphabet took a quick move lower on the news, pulling Comm Services down. The good news is that outside of tech, the rest of the market is enjoying a solid post-Fed day. The equal-weight, mid and small caps are up ~1%, as is the Dow. We got some mixed signals from the jobless claims data this morning. Weely initial claims jumped from 192k to 236k, well above expectations. However continuing claims showed a sharp decline. The prior week included Thanksgiving and that could be exerting some impact on the numbers. Treasury yields are down ~3bp across the curve. The Dollar is weaker against the major crosses and fell below CHF 0.80 after the SNB held rates at 0%. Crude is trading almost 2% lower, near the day’s lows ~$61.00. Officials from the US, Europe, and Ukraine will meet Saturday to discuss peace plans according to reports. Metals meanwhile are sharply higher. After a modest gain yesterday silver has jumped again, up 6%. Gold is back above $4300. Crypto, however, is under some pressure with Bitcoin trying to hold its 20d ma/$90k.

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