STOCKS DO NOTHING: Here's what you need to know
The Dow closed slightly negative, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq scraped into the green.
That being said, the S&P 500 just posted its 67th straight trading day without a 1% decline. This is marks the longest such streak of the current bull market, or since March 2009, according to data cited by Bespoke Investments.
(The longest streak ever was 184 trading days, which ended with a 1.3% drop on November 21, 1963 - the day before John F. Kennedy's assassination, according to Bespoke.)
In any case, first up, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 19,801.54, -25.23, (-0.13%)
- S&P 500: 2,271.38, +3.48, (+0.15%)
- Nasdaq: 5,553.79, +15.12, (+0.27%)
- US 10-year yield: 2.419%, +0.090
- WTI Crude: $51.34, -1.14, (-2.17%)
1. YELLEN: The Fed is close to its goals and expects to hike rates "a few" times this year. "Although inflation has been running below our 2 percent objective for quite some time, we have seen it start inching back toward 2 percent last year as the job market continued to improve and as the effects of a big drop in oil prices faded," she said.
2. Gas and housing prices pushed up America's cost of living in December. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) released on Wednesday showed that the basket of prices increased by 0.3% from November, and 2.1% year-over-year.
3. Goldman Sachs blows away analyst expectations on strong fixed-income trading.The firm reported earnings per share of $5.08 on revenue of $8.17 billion for the quarter. The beat was driven by a big performance in the fixed income, currencies and commodities division. Revenues in that business were up 78% from the previous year.
4. The Bank of Canada held rates at 0.5%. In the accompanying policy statement, the bank noted that "uncertainty about the global outlook is undiminished, particularly with respect to policies in the United States."
5. The Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso plunged. The loonie was down by 1.5%, while the peso was down by about 1.8% against the dollar in the mid-afternoon.
6. Trump's nominee for Commerce secretary said that NAFTA will be an early priority for his department. He also called himself "pro-trade," but only as long as it is "sensible trade."
7. Deutsche Bank is scrapping bonuses for senior employees because of the bank's performance. "Now we have a clearer idea of the financial impact of the settlement with the DoJ and our performance for the year, we feel these measures, are unavoidable," said a memo sent to staff.
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