What we are watching next week, including Nike earnings

Published Fri, Dec 17 20214:59 PM ESTUpdated Fri, Jan 14 202212:03 PM EST

(This article was sent first to members of the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer. To get the real-time updates in your inbox, subscribe here .) The S & P 500 closed lower on Friday to end what was a highly volatile week. There was a ton of rotational action and bifurcation occurring under the hood. Health care, real estate, utilities, and the consumer staples sectors all finished modestly higher for the week. The materials sector edged lower, and the drops were more pronounced in financials, communication services, industrials, tech, consumer discretionary, and energy. Explaining the moves this week The action can be easily explained. If the economy hits a speed bump from either the Federal Reserve tightening or Covid-19 rapidly spreading around the world, the companies that will most likely be able to do their numbers are the ones that do best in a slowdown. Health care, utilities, and staples don't need a robust environment to hit guidance, but the industrials, energy, and consumer spending-driven businesses sure do better when the economy is firing on all cylinders. Meanwhile, a less accommodative Fed has investors evaluating their risk tolerance against the potential of a rising interest rate environment, explaining why we continue to see buying interest in companies that make stuff and do things, and pressure in unprofitable conceptional story stocks. Here is a quick look at some of the broader market measures we like to keep an eye on: The U.S. dollar index was about flat on the week at 96. Gold rallied to the $1,800 level in the days after Wednesday's FOMC press conference. WTI crude prices slipped to roughly $70, as the spread of the omicron variant weighed on global demand. And the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to around the 1.41% level amid omicron variant uncertainty. No portfolio companies reported this week. In addition to earnings, we received several key macroeconomic updates: Monday - No major updates Tuesday - November Producer Price Index (PPI): +0.8% MoM vs. 0.5% estimate; +9.6% YoY vs. +9.2% estimate - Core PPI: +0.7% MoM vs. 0.4% estimate; +6.9% YoY vs. 7.2% YoY Wednesday - Retail Sales : +0.3% MoM vs. +0.8% estimate; +18.2% YoY - FOMC Meeting : The FOMC left rates unchanged but announced an accelerated reduction of its monthly bond purchases and signaled for three rate hikes in 2022. Thursday - Housing Starts : +11.8% to 1.679 million seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) vs. 1.568 million SAAR estimate -Building Permits: +3.6% MoM to 1.712 million unit rate vs 1.66 million unit rate estimate - In