Thursday's Markets Update (November 30, 2023)

30 Nov 2023 by rate3

On Thursday, PCE inflation measures slowed, personal spending eased, and continuing jobless claims rose to a two-year high. The Nasdaq pared back early gains to trade lower 14.2K. Meanwhile, BTC and ETH continued to hover below 38K and 2.1K, respectively.

Details

In October, personal income rose 0.2% month-on-month, reaching $57.1 billion. Disposable personal income, which excludes taxes, increased 0.3% month-on-month, totaling $63.4 billion. Personal outlays (PCE - preferred Fed's indicator of inflation), including consumption, interest payments, and transfer payments, rose 0.2% month-on-month, totaling $43.8 billion and increasing by 3.5% from the previous year in October, marking the lowest level since April 2021. Consumer spending increased 0.2% month-on-month, reaching $41.2 billion. Personal savings totaled $768.6 billion, or 3.8% of disposable personal income.

The number of filings for unemployment benefits increased to 218K in the week ending November 25th, but slightly below market expectations. Continuing claims surged by 86K to 1.927M, the highest level since November 2021. The non-seasonally adjusted claim count dropped to 198.8K, driven by declines in California, Texas, Oregon, Florida, and Georgia.