For most of last week, the market was fairly lackluster. While the U.S. markets were closed Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., the British pound dropped to a three-month low, which led to a decline in the FTSE 100 and Stoxx 600 in Europe. On Tuesday, investors were cautious ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration—a bit of a reversal of the market’s movements since the November election. By midweek, the indices closed with mixed results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded slightly lower while the S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ posted gains. The mixed moves were likely prompted by Federal Reserve comments at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, as Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said a few interest rate hikes per year may be likely through the end of 2019. The markets ended in red territory on Thursday, with stocks trading lower ahead of the presidential inauguration. In housing news, housing starts ticked up in December, as new construction numbers rose to an annual rate of 1.226 million versus expectations of 1.188 million. Indices traded into green territory on Friday with equities rallying on Inauguration Day, recouping most of the value lost earlier in the week. Nevertheless, the NASDAQ and the Large-Cap Dow and S&P 500 each ended the week in the red compared to the prior week.
