5 things to know before the stock market opens Wednesday

Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:

After a sleepy start to December, stocks are building momentum again as the year heads to a close. Investors liked what they saw from the latest consumer price index reading Tuesday, sending stocks higher for another day, as expectations build for the Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark rate next year. The Dow and the S&P 500 reached their highest intraday levels since January 2022, and the Nasdaq hit its highest point since April 2022. Now eyes and ears turn to the Fed, which is expected to keep its rate steady at its 2 p.m. ET announcement Wednesday. (More on that below.) The November producer price index, a key measure of wholesale inflation, is set to drop at 8:30 a.m. Follow live market updates.

While the market doesn’t expect the Fed to do anything with rates Wednesday, investors will focus mainly on what Chair Jerome Powell and his fellow policy makers will say. Economists and analysts think the Fed’s announcement will be a strong indication that the central bank is indeed done with its rate-hiking cycle as the still-strong economy cools off. As for the Fed’s economic outlook, CNBC’s Jeff Cox says investors shouldn’t expect to see much change, although Powell’s press conference could be much more interesting as reporters will press him on when he thinks the central bank will start cutting rates.

After intense negotiations and heated protests, nearly 200 nations, meeting at the United Nations’ COP28 summit in Dubai, agreed to move away from fossil fuels. The landmark deal to battle climate change entails “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science,” the proposal reads. Meanwhile, oil bulls are stuck in a rut as traders weigh softer yet persistent inflation and weakening demand from China. The West Texas Intermediate crude contract for January fell nearly 4% Tuesday, settling at $68.61 a barrel, while the Brent contract for February slipped more than 3.5% to $73.24.

It took several years, but Netflix is finally giving the public a more detailed look at its viewership data. The streaming giant released its first “What We Watched” report Tuesday, revealing information on more than 18,000 titles. “This is the actual data that we use to run the business,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos told reporters. “I’m the co-CEO of a public company, so sharing bad information has consequences.” The data release comes after Netflix and other Hollywood studios resolved strikes with the actors’ and writers’ unions, both of which had said the streaming leader wasn’t being transparent enough with its audience numbers. Netflix plans to release a “What We Watched” report every six months.

As inflation cools, Americans are starting to feel a little better about the economy, according to two recent surveys. Indeed, even as the economy cools somewhat, job growth is still solid, the unemployment rate is low and steady, and wages are rising. That could develop into a positive thing for President Joe Biden as he heads into a reelection year. But as of now he’s still in a bad spot with voters, who have rejected his Bidenomics messaging, according to polls. Biden himself is cognizant of that, as his reaction to Tuesday’s consumer price index showed. While inflation is indeed slowing, it’s still not where it needs to be. “Despite this progress, I know many Americans still find too many things unaffordable,” Biden said, while also vowing to “keep fighting to bring down costs.”

– CNBC’s Sarah Min, Jeff Cox, Sam Meredith, Spencer Kimball, Alex Sherman and Rebecca Picciotto contributed to this report.

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