Bonds & Stocks
Stock futures rose and bond yields fell, with traders weighing economic data for clues on the Federal Reserve outlook. S&P 500 contracts signaled the benchmark gauge is heading toward another record. Treasury 10-year yields declined three basis points to 4.15%. The dollar was little changed. The US economy expanded in the fourth quarter by more than forecast, powered by resilient consumer spending that helped cap the strongest year of growth since 2021. Gross domestic product increased at a 3.3% annualized rate.
Economy
Initial unemployment insurance claims rose by 25k in the third week of January. Abnormally cold weather in the lower 48 states likely contributed to the uptick in seasonally adjusted claims. However, with cautious firms increasingly announcing layoffs, we expect claims to continue rising in weeks and months ahead.
World
US sanctions have succeeded in reducing the amount of oil Iran exports, a White House energy adviser said Thursday. Iranian oil exports have been cut from as much as 3 million barrels a day to as little as 1 million barrels a day, President Joe Biden’s energy security adviser Amos Hochstein said on Bloomberg Television. “They have an enormous amount of reserves and resources and the reason that they are not doing that is because they’re under sanctions,” Hochstein said. “By and large, they are under extreme sanctions.”