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Last Updated: 22-Jan-26 08:54 ET | Archive
Positive Greenland developments awaken buy-the-dip impulse
Briefing.com Summary:
*Better-than-feared developments pertaining to Greenland have ignited the bull market's buy-the-dip impulse.
*Mega-cap stocks are pacing the gains seen in pre-market action.
*Encouraging economic news was provided in the weekly initial jobless claims and revised Q3 GDP reports.
A relief trade is afoot in the stock market, and it revolves around yesterday's declaration by President Trump that (a) he won't use force to acquire Greenland, (b) he worked out the framework of a future deal for Greenland and the entire Arctic region with Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO, and (c) he won't be imposing the new tariffs set to go into effect February 1 given the progress of his Greenland discussions.
That trifecta awakened a fluttering stock market, which went into rally mode and ignited a latent buy-the-dip impulse that has carried over this morning.
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are up 44 points and are trading 0.7% above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 250 points and are trading 1.0% above fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 225 points and are trading 0.5% above fair value.
There is leadership from the mega-cap stocks, but with interest rates well behaved, there is some broader buying interest.
That interest hasn't extended to a handful of notable companies that have reported their earnings results since yesterday's close. Procter & Gamble (PG), GE Aerospace (GE), Abbott Labs (ABT), McCormick & Company (MKC), and Knight-Swift (KNX) are all trading lower in pre-market action.
The early action has also featured some encouraging economic news.
Initial jobless claims for the week ending January 17 were just 200,000 (Briefing.com consensus: 200,000), up 1,000 from the prior week's revised level. Continuing jobless claims for the week ending January 10 were 1.849 million, down 26,000 from the prior week's revised level.
The key takeaway from the report is that the low level of initial jobless claims substantiates the view that the labor market is still operating in a low-firing environment, which is supportive for consumer spending activity and the growth outlook.
Speaking of growth, Q3 real GDP was revised slightly higher to 4.4% (Briefing.com consensus: 4.3%) from the advance estimate of 4.3%, with an upward revision to exports and investment superseding a slight downward revision to consumer spending. The GDP Deflator was unrevised at 3.8% (Briefing.com consensus: 3.7%).
The key takeaway from the report is that it is a dated and little-changed report, so its market-moving capacity is nil; however, it is a headline reminder that the economy was running on the hotter side of things in the third quarter.
Market participants will get a read on some fourth-quarter activity at 10:00 a.m. ET. That is when the BEA will release the Personal Income and Spending reports for October and November, which contain the PCE Price Indexes, the Fed's preferred inflation gauges.
There could be some market-moving action around those reports, but for now, what happened yesterday is the main impetus for the bullish manner in which the market is moving ahead of today's open.
