Your Money This Week

More good news on the inflation front this week.

• The core personal consumption expenditures price index rose just 0.1% in November and was up 3.2% from a year ago, both close to expectations.
• On a six-month basis, core PCE was up 1.9%, below the Fed’s 12-month target.
• Including food and energy costs, so-called headline PCE actually fell 0.1% on the month and was up just 2.6% from a year ago.

Fed’s favorite inflation gauge shows prices rose at 3.2% annual rate in November, less than expected. CNBC

And now the economists who were dead certain we’d be in a recession by now are signaling victory on the inflation front. Do what you may with those projections, but the market continues to respond favorably.

U.S. stocks are on pace for their 8th straight winning week. If you include dividends, the S&P 500 is now back in positive territory from its January 4, 2022 all-time high, although it’s still not their based on price alone.

Global stocks and U.S. bonds had positive weeks.

Small cap stocks continued to outperform large caps, a trend that is now three months old.

Next week is a shorter trading week with markets closed Monday for Christmas. Historically, it’s a low volume week for markets, so hopefully we can end the year with most of these gains in place.

Real Estate Conversation

This week I spoke to Lance Lambert, CEO & Co-Founder at ResiClub, a research company dedicated to in-depth tracking, reporting, and analysis of the U.S. housing market.

Today’s Housing Market

We discussed the state of the U.S. housing market from pre-pandemic to today, pricing, affordability, inventory, and the headwinds and tailwinds in today’s market, how mortgage rates are determined and where they’ll normalize long-term, and how to predict what may happen in the market next year.

Available through the link below and wherever you get your podcasts.