Friday Market Wrap: S&P 500 Gains This Week Following Dovish Fed Minutes

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY traded higher in a holiday-shortened week on Wall Street as investors cheered a more dovish tone from the Federal Reserve.

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee released its November meeting minutes, and the Fed's language suggests it will likely opt to dial back the pace of its interest rate hikes to 0.5% in December. The Fed said slower interest rate hikes will "likely soon be appropriate" and could "reduce the risk of instability in the financial system."

Walt Disney Co DIS announced on Sunday that it will be replacing CEO Bob Chapek with former CEO Bob Iger, news that sent Disney shares higher by 6% on Monday. Chapek replaced Iger as CEO in early 2020, but has faced criticism over Disney's rising costs and poor share price performance.

Bitcoin BTC/USD prices dropped to new two-year lows under $15,500 on Tuesday over ongoing concerns the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency exchange FTX could trigger contagion in the crypto market. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also signed a new law on Tuesday that bans carbon-based Bitcoin mining in the state for at least two years.

Retailers kicked off the critical holiday shopping season with Black Friday sales on Friday. Adobe Inc ADBE estimates online shoppers will spend $34.8 billion during the five-day stretch from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, up 2.8% from a year ago.

Related Link: Retail Stocks Mixed On Black Friday Following Record Thanksgiving Day Sales: What You Need To Know

Dick's Delivers: DICK'S Sporting Goods Inc DKS shares jumped more than 10% on Wednesday after the retailer reported third-quarter earnings, revenue and same-store sales that exceeded analyst expectations.

In the week ahead, third-quarter earnings season continues with reports from Pinduoduo Inc - ADR PDD on Monday, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co HPE on Tuesday and Xpeng Inc - ADR XPEV and Salesforce Inc CRM on Wednesday.

So far in the third quarter, S&P 500 companies have reported their lowest earnings growth in two years, according to FactSet.

Economic Numbers: Following the encouraging Fed minutes, investors will get more key economic updates on Wednesday when Fed Chair Jerome Powell delivers a speech at the Brookings Institution and on Friday when the U.S. Labor Department releases its November jobs report.

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