Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The broader market mostly held firm after the Fed released its January Beige Book at the bottom of the hour. The report showed that economic activity increased at a slight to modest pace in eight of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts, with three Districts reporting no change and one reporting a modest decline. Most banks reported slight to modest growth in consumer spending this cycle, largely attributed to the holiday shopping season. Currently, the S&P 500 (-0.82%) is firmly in second place.

Outlooks for future activity were mildly optimistic with most expecting slight to modest growth in coming months.

• Employment: Employment was largely flat, with firms leaning more on temporary workers, hiring mainly to backfill roles amid ongoing skilled-labor shortages, moderate and "normalized" wage growth, fewer job switchers, and only limited near-term employment impact from AI despite growing interest in its future workforce applications.
• Prices: Prices rose at a moderate pace, with tariff-related cost pressures increasingly being passed through as inventories thin, though some consumer-facing sectors remain hesitant, while energy and insurance costs continued to weigh on margins and firms expect price growth to ease but remain elevated.

Currently, the yield on the benchmark 10-yr Treasury note is down five basis point at 4.139%.