Evening Market Recap - Thursday, 18-Dec

US equities higher in Thursday trading, just off their best levels. Disinflation traction and better tech/AI sentiment were the big pieces to today's risk-on, broad-based rally. Additionally, the day saw the coolest core CPI print in nearly five years adding support to dovish Fed narrative.

US equities were lower in Wednesday trading, finishing near worst levels, with the Dow Jones, S&P500, and Nasdaq closing down 47bps, 116bps, and 181bps respectively. AI weakness was the big story today following Financial Times report that Blue Owl backed out of an Oracle and OpenAI data center project in Michigan with no reprieve from Oracle comments project remains on track. Fedespeak from Waller remarks at Yale had a dovish cast. Today’s $13B auction of 20s was well received. Micron earnings after the close and President Trump addressing nation tonight.

Stocks were mostly lower with Energy and healthcare the big specific decliners. Rotational dynamics were mostly on pause with cyclicals/small caps mostly lower and AI-linked/semis/Big Tech trading mixed. Treasuries were a bit firmer after today's high profile economic data.

US equities were lower in Monday trading as stocks ended a bit off worst levels. Stocks were modestly lower in anticipation of key catalysts later this week. In macro news, the December Empire State Manufacturing Index posted a surprise negative print.

US equities were mixed this week. The Nasdaq was the worst performing major average, while the S&P ended the week slightly lower despite capping off a fresh record close on Thursday. The big market story was the cyclical rotation that gained further traction at the expense of the momentum and AI trades. The rotation was tabbed to factors including the less hawkish FOMC takeaways, a looming 2026 fiscal impulse with OBBA, taxes, and deprecation expense tailwinds, as well as some company-specific updates around the AI trade.

US equities finished mostly higher in Thursday trading, ending near best levels. Tech was a notable underperformer with disappointing results from Oracle exacerbating the negative sentiment surrounding AI infrastructure. Additionally, Google lagged after the (expected) rollout of the new GPT 5.2 model, given recent enthusiasm over its Gemini 3 release.

US equities finished higher in Wednesday trading, ending just a bit off best levels, with the Dow Jones, S&P500, and Nasdaq closing up 105bps, 67bps, and 33bps respectively. FOMC in focus today with a 25 bp rate cut, three dissents, forward guidance tweak and plans to purchase $40B/month in Treasury bills. Elsewhere, Q3 ECI rose 80bps, a bit below Q2's 90bps and just shy of consensus. GE Vernova providing some positive AI-related commentary ahead of Oracle and Broadcom results. Sanguine conference commentary on US consumer, buyback tailwinds among other highlights of the day.

US equities were mixed in Tuesday trading, off best levels. There were not a lot of big directional drivers with the market largely in waiting mode for FOMC on Wednesday and some key AI events, including AVGO and ORCL earnings and a new OpenAI model. Analyst day and sell-side conference presentations were driving some of the more notable movers

US equities finished lower in Monday trading, ending not far from worst levels. Rate backup was one of the bigger stories for today as a hawkish cut has become the consensus for Wednesday's FOMC. AI was another key press theme over the weekend, which included focus on a positive broader market sentiment given reasonable valuations, and AI optimism.

US equities were higher this week, adding to last week's gains which saw the S&P 500 post its seventh straight positive month in November. November ADP notably undershot expectations to the lowest since Mar-23. There were some positive takeaways from high-profile tech earnings this week along with another wave of AI-related partnerships and announcements.