• A weak start to the new year. Stocks continued to shed in the second week of January. After back-to-back standout years, the stock market has crawled so far in 2025, with the benchmark S&P 500 down about 1% so far this year. It was the fourth negative week out of five for the S&P 500, which finished down more than 4% from a record high set on December 6. Every major index closed in the red on Friday.
• Investors are on edge. U.S. inflation data next week could test the nerves of stock investors and amplify concerns over rising Treasury yields and over Donald Trump's policy plans.
• Big data this coming week. The monthly consumer price index (CPI), due on Jan 15, will be heavily watched and could spark further market volatility if it comes in higher than expectations. Monthly inflation data can have an "outsized presence in the market," remarked Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at retirement and wealth services provider Empower. "If we were to see inflation re-accelerate, that would be concerning to markets," Norton said. "There's just this kind of pins and needles moment with every inflation print." The December CPI is expected to show a 0.3% increase on a monthly basis, according to a Reuters poll.
• Minutes from the Fed's last meeting were out on Wednesday. The minutes revealed that officials are worried that Trump's policies on trade and immigration could delay the effort to bring down inflation. President elect Trump will take office on Jan 20. 
• A strong jobs report. The U.S. labor market remains resilient, as December’s jobs gain of 256,000 was roughly 100,000 more than most economists had expected. December’s unemployment rate slipped to 4.1% from 4.2% the previous month.  
• The yield went zooming. In the wake of Friday’s stronger-than-expected jobs report, the yield of the 10-year U.S. Treasury note soared to the highest level in more than 14 months, climbing as high as 4.79% on Friday morning before closing around 4.77%. 
• Oil and gold went higher. The price of U.S. crude oil rose for the third week in a row, climbing to nearly $77 on Friday. Gold futures also rose for the second week in a row, reaching around $2,717.
• Q4 earnings are on the way. Major banks are preparing to open quarterly earnings season. Analysts expect that fourth-quarter earnings per share for all companies in the S&P 500 rose by an average of 11.7%, according to FactSet. 
• The four-day JPMorgan healthcare conference kicks off on Monday. Pfizer's chief executive is among executives participating on the first day; his counterpart at Eli Lilly is due up on Tuesday.

• Palantir Technologies (PLTR)
• Plug Power (PLUG)
• Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA)
• Nvidia (NVDA)
• Rigetti Computing (RGTI)

Biggest Gainers

• Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) +27.55%
• Constellation Energy (CEG) +25.16%
• Intra-Cellular Therapies (ITCI) +14.91%
• Sasol Limited (SSL) +14.71%
• Royalty Pharma (RPRX) +12.56%

Biggest Losers

• Mercury General Corp. (MCY) -19.88%
• Constellation Brands (STZ) -17.09%
• Apellis Pharmaceuticals (APLS) -16.85%
• Apogee Therapeutics (APGE) -16.58%
• Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (CRNX) -16.31%

Weekly Notables

Meta's Zuckerberg Says Apple Hasn't Invented Anything Great in Awhile

In a podcast interview with Joe Rogan on Friday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had some things to say about tech giant Apple. “On the one hand, [the iPhone has] been great, because now pretty much everyone in the world has a phone, and that’s kind of what enables pretty amazing things,” Zuckerberg said in an episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience.” “But on the other hand ... they have used that platform to put in place a lot of rules that I think feel arbitrary and [I] feel like they haven’t really invented anything great in a while. It’s like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now they’re just kind of sitting on it 20 years later.”

Tik Tok May Soon Be Gone as January 19th Approaches

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in the case involving the future of TikTok in the United States, and a law that could effectively ban the popular app on January 19th. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act targets TikTok and will impose harsh civil penalties on app “entities” that carry the service after a Jan.19 deadline. Anticipation builds on whether President-elect Trump can do something about this. Trump will be inaugurated on Jan. 20th.

The Week Ahead

• Potential market moving catalysts this week: On Monday investors can look forward to the Federal budget from the U.S. Department of Treasury. Tuesday the Producer Price Index will be released from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On Wednesday the Consumer Price Index will be out as well as business inventories from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders. Thursday we will see retail sales, export and import prices, and weekly unmployment claims data. Friday will end the week with housing starts, and industrial production and capacity utilization. 
• Earnings on deck this week: Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are all due to report full-year results before the bell on Wednesday.  Other notable financial companies reporting include BlackRock and Bank of New York Mellon. On Thursday Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are due to report before the open, as are numerous smaller banks including PNC Financial and U.S. Bancorp. Other earnings include UnitedHealth.