Stock Market Live December 9: Anticipating a Rate Cut, the S&P 500 (VOO) Rises a Bit

This nonfiction volition beryllium updated passim the day, truthful cheque backmost often for much regular updates.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) closed down 0.3% connected Monday arsenic higher yields connected U.S. 10-Year Treasury notes tempted investors distant from stocks and toward bonds. As yields reversed implicit the evening, though, truthful excessively is sentiment astir stocks.

Premarket, the Voo is looking similar it mightiness unfastened 0.1% higher today.

How agelong volition that optimism last, though? Perhaps little than 48 hours. In Washington, D.C., today, the Federal Open Markets Committee is discussing its adjacent involvement complaint move: to chopped oregon not to cut. Most pundits forecast a 25 ground constituent (that's 0.25% to you and me) chopped erstwhile the determination is announced tomorrow, truthful there's improbable to beryllium a immense bump successful banal prices if that's the existent news.

On the different hand, if the FOMC decides not to cut... oregon pairs a chopped with commentary suggesting this mightiness beryllium the past chopped for a while... oregon -- eden forfend -- for immoderate crushed decides to rise rates tomorrow, you tin expect each heck to interruption escaped connected the markets, and the Voo to tumble down astatine slightest a tiny cliff.

Tune successful time for the decision to this story. In the meantime, we person immoderate net quality for you.

• The Federal Reserve gathering to determine connected a caller people involvement complaint begins today. A determination volition beryllium announced tomorrow.

• Toll Brothers and Autozone some study net misses.

• If you’re reasoning astir retiring oregon cognize idiosyncratic who is, determination are 3 speedy questions causing galore Americans to recognize they tin discontinue earlier than expected. instrumentality 5 minutes to larn much here

Homebuilding elephantine Toll Bros. (NYSE: TOL) reported its Q4 numbers past night, and the quality wasn't great. Toll "missed earnings" by 30 cents, reporting a nett of $4.58 per stock wherever Wall Street expected $4.88. Surprisingly, income were up of forecasts astatine $3.4 billion.

Adding to capitalist dismay, Toll Bros. said its backlog astatine the extremity of Q4 was lone $5.5 billion, down 15% from a twelvemonth ago. This implies weakening request for caller homes. Toll said it has 4,647 homes awaiting gathering close now, versus 5,996 a twelvemonth ago.

And yes, if you did the mathematics right, the 22.5% diminution successful unit backlog, successful the discourse of lone a 15% diminution successful dollar backlog, means that location prices are inactive rising. No wonderment houses aren't moving faster!

Toll Bros. banal is down much than 5% premarket.

S&P 500 constituent company AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) missed its net target, too, this morning, reporting Q1 nett of $31.04, $1.83 worse than expected. Revenue came person to the people astatine $4.6 billion, but was inactive somewhat abbreviated of analysts' forecast.