We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving day with plenty of food, family, and fun. As we sift through what appears to be an endless amount of leftovers, we thought a light and easily digestible weekly update was the right choice. And with that, here are a few fascinating pieces of information we’ve come across over the last few weeks.
CHEAPER TURKEY
Thanksgiving dinner will be a little easier on the wallet this year: The average cost of a “classic” dinner for ten has declined 4.5% from last year.
TECH TITANS
As of November 15, the S&P 500 had risen in price by roughly 216% in the 10+ years since the start of 2013. Seven mega-cap tech and tech-adjacent companies —Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, NVIDIA, and Tesla — accounted for nearly half (48%) of the S&P’s gain.
FOUR DAY (AT) WORKWEEK
As of November 8, office occupancy in the ten largest U.S. cities increased to a post-pandemic high of 50.5%. While office occupancy is well over 50% on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, less than a third of employees are making the trek into the office on Fridays.
CHATTING AWAY
The uber-popular ChatGPT AI chatbot now has over 100 million active weekly users. More than two million developers and 92% of Fortune 500 companies use ChatGPT’s API. Released less than a year ago, ChatGPT is considered the fastest-growing consumer internet app of all time.
Economy
- Markets were up again during the holiday-shortened week, with the S&P 500 up 1.0%, the Nasdaq up 0.9%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 up 0.5%. There were no significant data releases; the rise was a continuation of the recent push higher.
- The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to 209K on the week ending November 18, dropping sharply from the three-month high the previous week and well below market expectations of 225K.
- The University of Michigan consumer sentiment for the U.S. was revised sharply higher to 61.3 in November 2023 from a preliminary of 60.4. However, it has remained at the lowest level since May.
Stocks
- U.S. equities were in positive territory. Healthcare and Consumer Staples were the top performers, while Energy and Utilities lagged. Growth stocks led value stocks, and large caps beat small caps.
- International equities closed higher for the week. Developed markets fared better than emerging markets.
Bonds
- The 10-year Treasury bond yield increased four basis points to 4.48% during the week.
- Global bond markets were in negative territory this week.
- Corporate bonds led for the week, followed by high-yield bonds and government bonds.
