Robertson Stephens Weekly Commentary – December 16, 2024

Economic data descends upon us this week like big, fat, fluffy snowflakes. Each piece of data is different but collectively details the landscape, possibly even making for a snowball fight.  The FOMC meeting, which will culminate in the last interest rate decision for the year, is bracketed by important data on economic activity, including consumer spending and manufacturing activity (prior to the FOMC decision) and inflation (unfortunately AFTER the FOMC decision.) The S&P 500 returned -0.6% for the week. After the blistering year-to-date rally, markets were marking time for this week’s Fed meeting. Economic data showed a mixed picture: while the consumer price index (CPI) came in line with expectations, the producer price index and weekly jobless claims data both came in higher than expected. On the wealth planning front, we discuss how the CEO of Nvidia was able to minimize potential estate taxes.