Both the S&P 500 (SPX) and the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) are up by over 1% on Thursday as investors digest surprising inflation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
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November’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed a yearly rise of 2.7%, below the estimate of 3.1%. Core CPI rose by 2.6% in November, the lowest rate since March 2021 and below the expectation of 3.0%. Core CPI excludes volatile food and energy prices.
At the same time, economists warn that the data should be taken with a grain of salt because of missing inflation components caused by the government shutdown’s disruptive effects on data collection. The BLS added that October’s CPI and core CPI will never be published.
Jobless Claims Remain Stable
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor (DOL) said that initial jobless claims, which act as a gauge for layoffs, totaled 224,000 in the week ended December 13. That came in below the consensus estimate of 225,000. In addition, continuing jobless claims for the week ended December 6 were 1.897 million, also below the estimate of 1.92 million.
Both figures fell on a weekly basis, while continuing jobless claims reached their lowest level since May. The data points suggest that employers are still exhibiting a slow-to-fire-and-hire trend around the holiday season. In November, the unemployment rate climbed to 4.6%, marking the highest level since September 2021.
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