Stocks finish higher as the Street awaits key inflation data next week

Published Fri, Nov 25 20221:13 PM EST

Stocks finished higher on this holiday-shortened trading week, with all the major U.S. averages posting gains. However, trading volume was slim so we would caution reading too much into the move. Still, we are inclined to lean toward a positive outlook, even if the Federal Reserve is reluctant to acknowledge the progress it has made in battling inflation. After all, just about everything — housing, prices, wages, autos, layoffs — is going the central bank's way. The caveat, of course, is that should the Fed remain hawkish and go too far in aggressively raising interest rates, it could push the U.S. into a deeper recession than is currently expected. Fortunately, we will get more crucial macroeconomic data next week in the form of two employment reports, ADP and nonfarm payrolls, and a key inflation update in the personal spending report, all of which should provide more insight into the Fed's ability to slow its pace of rate hikes (or not). Under the hood, all sectors closed higher for the week, led by utilities, materials and financials. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index is holding at about 106. Gold stands at roughly $1,750 per ounce. WTI crude prices pulled back further, falling to about $78 per barrel, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury is hovering at 3.73%. Club trades On Tuesday, we bought 40 shares of Estee Lauder (EL); Trust owns 250 shares of EL, increasing its weighting in the portfolio to 1.88% from 1.58% Looking back No portfolio companies reported earnings this week. On the macroeconomic front: It was a short week given the Thanksgiving Day holiday, however, on Wednesday, initial jobless claims for the week ending November 19 th came in at 240,000, an increase of 17,000 from the prior week and above expectations of 225,000. Also Wednesday, New Home Sales were reported to have risen 7.5% monthly in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 632,000 units, above expectations for a 570,000 unit rate. What's ahead Earnings season is winding down. Within the portfolio, we will hear from Salesforce (CRM) on Wednesday after the closing bell. Here are some other earnings reports and economic numbers to watch in the week ahead: Monday, November 28 Before the bell: Huazhu Group (HTHT), Pinduoduo (PDD) After the bell: JOYY (YY), AZEK Co (AZEK), Arrowjead Pharma (ARWR) Tuesday, November 29 Before the bell: Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Bilibili (BILI), Carlyle Group (CG), Cerence (CRNC), Hibbett Sports (HIBB) After the bell: Intuit (INTU), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Workday (WDAY), NetApp (NTAP) Wednesday, November 30 Before the bell: Donaldson Co (DCI), Hormel Foods (HRL), Leslie's (LESL), Petco (WOOF), Royal Bank of Canada (RY), Xpeng (XPEV) After the bell: PVH (PVH), Snowflake (SNOW), Splunk (SPLK), Yext (YEXT), Semtech (SMTC), Pure Storage (PSTG), Okta (OKTA), Nutanix (NTNX) 8:15 a.m. ET: ADP Employment Report 8:30 a.m. ET: Gross Domestic Product 10:00 a.m. ET: Pending Home Sales Thursday, December 1 Before the bell: Bank of Montreal (BMO), Big Lots (BIG), Canadian Imperial Bank (CM), Designer Brands (DBI), Dollar General (DG), Kroger (KR), TD Bank Group (TD), Lands' End (LE) After the bell: Marvell Tech (MRVL), Ambarella (AMBA), American Outdoor Brands (AOUT), PagerDuty (PD), UiPath (PATH), ULTA Beauty (ULTA), Zscaler (ZS) 8:30 a.m. ET: Initial Jobless Claims 8:30 a.m. ET: Personal Spending 10:00 a.m. ET: ISM Manufacturing Friday, December 2 Before the bell: Genesco (GCO), Cracker Barrel (CBRL) 8:30 a.m. ET: Nonfarm Payrolls (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. 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 INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

Shoppers are seen in a Kroger supermarket on October 14, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Elijah Nouvelage | AFP | Getty Images

Stocks finished higher on this holiday-shortened trading week, with all the major U.S. averages posting gains. However, trading volume was slim so we would caution reading too much into the move.