A benign December inflation report was all it took to ignite another strong rally on Wall Street, with major indices delivering their best weekly performance since the post-election surge in early November.
Heading into the week, markets were gripped by concerns over inflation and interest rates, pricing in just one rate cut by year-end while the 30-year Treasury yield hovered around 5%.
Fresh data showed inflation rising for the third straight month up to 2.9%, yet right in line with forecasts. A softer core reading — excluding food and energy — gave traders hope that the Fed might cut rates at least twice this year.
Adding fuel to the bull run, major banks kicked off the fourth-quarter 2024 …
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