It was a whiplash week for stocks. Investors were under pressure earlier in the week, worried that higher wage pressure seen in the November jobs report to combat inflation could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates higher than expected next year. Wall Street closed lower on Friday after a brief midweek reprieve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its worst week since September. After a warmer-than-expected reading on producer prices in November, investors and the Fed will be looking for more clarity around the inflation picture on Tuesday when the government releases its consumer price index for last month. The next day, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is preparing to announce his decision on the next round of interest rate hikes. The current expectation is for the central bank’s decision-making body to raise rates by 50 basis points, which represents a slight decline after four consecutive hikes of 75 basis points each. But what remains a question mark is how much the Fed will raise rates and for how long given the current economic slowdown. While there are still many unknowns about the Fed’s data-driven policies, we will get an updated reading on how members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) are thinking about raising interest rates through 2023. Club Try to see any signal on how the Fed views real gross domestic product (GDP), the unemployment rate and the rate of core inflation next year. Defensive sectors such as utilities and healthcare and real estate also performed better last week. It took energy downstream, leaving it at the disposal of communications services and consumers. Meanwhile, the US dollar index rose slightly but is still below 105. Gold closed the week around $1,810 per ounce. West Texas Intermediate crude fell to the low $70s from around $80 a barrel as the market grew concerned about the outlook for the global economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose this week on expectations that the Fed will have to raise interest rates more than expected. Looking back, within the portfolio, we got Costco Wholesale’s ( COST ) quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The wholesaler reported a mixed quarter. There were two key economic reports on Monday: New orders for US manufactured goods rose 1% in October. That was higher than the market had expected a 0.7% gain and followed a 0.3% gain in the previous month. The ISM purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 56.5 in November. The number was higher than expectations of 53.3 and represents a big jump from the 2-year low of 54.4 recorded in October. On Thursday, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 3 were 230,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week and in line with analysts’ forecasts. Finally, on Friday, the Labor Department released its monthly producer price index, which, as noted above, showed that wholesale prices rose more than expected in November. The index rose 0.3% for the month, ahead of analysts’ forecasts for a 0.2% rise. What’s Ahead Between now and the end of the year, there are only a few earnings reports left. No Club holdings are scheduled to report next week, but Eli Lilly ( LLY ) will hold its 2023 guidance call on Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET. Here are some other earnings reports and economic numbers to watch in the week ahead: Monday, December 12 After the call: Oracle (ORCL), Coupa Software (COUP) Tuesday, December 13, 8:30 a.m. ET: Consumer price index FOMC meeting begins Wednesday, Dec. 14 After the Bell: Lennar (LEN), Trip.com (TCOM) FOMC meeting ends; Thursday, Dec. 15 Interest rate decision at 2:00 PM ET followed by Powell press conference Pre-Call: Jabil (JBL) After the Call: Adobe (ABDE) 8:30 AM ET: Initial Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET: Retail Sales 9:00 PM ET: Industrial Production Friday, December 16 Pre-Call: Accenture (ACN), Darden Restaurants, Winnebago (WGO) 9:00 AM ET: Markit PMI Manufacturing (for a full list of stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust (see here.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investment Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive trade alerts before Jim trades. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTMENT CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY. NO FIDUCIARY ENTITY OR DUTIES ARE OR WILL BE CREATED BY YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTMENT CLUB. NO RESULTS OR PROFITS ARE GUARANTEED.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference on May 1, 2019, in Washington.
Mark Wilson | Getty
It was a whiplash week for stocks.
Investors were under pressure earlier in the week, worried that higher wage pressure seen in the November jobs report to combat inflation could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates higher than expected next year. Wall Street closed lower on Friday after a brief midweek reprieve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had his worst week since September.