wednesday market open there’s plenty of potentially marketchanging news packed into the next 48 hours if you’ve been on break december’s consumer price index cpi arrives tomorrow before the open and on friday the nation’s largest banks will cut the ribbon on what could be an earnings season to remember however if you’ve been on the clock with the rest of us you’ll also be waiting for tomorrow’s weekly initial jobless claims number and fresh commentary from fed speakers with early january’s university of michigan consumer sentiment index to close the week we mention this because not much news is on the schedule today the market may trade without much conviction amid an apparent lack of major catalysts but we might see some repositioning going on ahead of friday’s start to the q4 earnings season with major bank results the one data highlight this morning was a slight uptick in weekly mortgage applications which could be a sign of pentup demand as interest rates moderate though one week isn’t a trend just after yesterday’s close wells fargo wfc dropped a bombshell that it plans to downsize the us home mortgage business it once dominated in light of rising rates and continued regulatory scrutiny wfc the company’s no 1 mortgage lender as late as 2019 will continue to offer home loans only to existing bank and wealth management customers and borrowers in minority communities in other news many us flights are grounded this morning due to a computer outage at the federal aviation administration faa airline stocks traded lower in premarket action delta air lines dal is scheduled to be the first major airline to report q4 earnings early friday and expectations are strong after the airline raised guidance last month   the 10year treasury yield tnx is down slightly at 358   the us dollar index dxy is up slightly at 1034   cboe volatility index® vix futures are near yesterday’s lows at 2075 crude is getting some support this week from anticipation that demand from china might improve as the economy there continues to reopen the wildcard of course is covid19 media reports about dramatically rising case counts raise questions about how soon china’s commodity demand can rebound kb home kbh one of the nation’s top 10 homebuilders gained 128 yesterday and is up in premarket trading ahead of quarterly earnings expected after the close this could be a chance to get a closer view at how rising mortgage rates are affecting home demand consensus from briefingcom is for earnings per share eps of 285 and revenue of 198 billion bed bath  beyond bbby shares advanced more than 27 in yesterday’s trading—to 207 per share the beleaguered home goods retailer—which recently announced it was approaching bankruptcy—issued a “going concern” warning what accounted for tuesday’s late optimism that led to the highest close for the sp 500® index spx in nearly a month many analysts believe that the december cpi may come in cooler than expected the stakes are high for thursday’s report as the february 1 date of the next fed rate decision grows closer after slowing for the fifth straight month to an annual rate of 71 in november the consensus for december’s headline figure is now at 65 core cpi—which omits more volatile price movements from food and energy—is expected to come in at an annual 57 the closely watched monthovermonth cpi change is expected to be flat for headline cpi and up 03 for core cpi according to consensus from briefingcom that compares with 01 and 02 respectively in november slowing price growth for a change is something both the fed and the average consumer will likely consider good news however as the minutes to cpi tick down today the message from central bankers is that rates may have to move above 5 before they can contemplate a move down getting there could be a bit slower—and potentially a bit less painless for borrowers by late tuesday the cme fedwatch tool held steady with a 782 chance of a 25basispoint rate at the next meeting the fed’s continuing to watch the jobs market closely tomorrow’s weekly initial jobless claims consensus is seen at 210000 according to briefingcom that’s up from 204000 a week earlier but still historically low we’ve seen a lot of layoff announcements lately from big corporations but claims haven’t inched up lately despite one more federal reserve leader declaring the central bank has “more work to do” against inflation—a frequent trigger for market retreats—all major indexes posted gains by the close the vix finished close to 20 before edging slightly higher this morning in futures trading federal reserve governor michelle bowman said in prepared remarks for an event in miami yesterday that she wants to see “compelling signs” that inflation has peaked with “consistent” evidence that it’s headed downward before the fed stops raising rates earlier in the day fed chairman jerome powell addressed an audience in stockholm for his first speech of 2023 without many specifics other than to offer that central banks fighting the inflation dragon “can require measures that are not popular in the short term as we raise interest rates to slow the economy” back home the nasdaq composite®comp managed to close higher for the third day in a row and the spx closed above its key 3900 mark—a resistance level that could indicate more stability going forward comp gained 101 by the close as investors embraced technology leaders like apple aapl amazon amzn—up nearly 3 on the day—and nvidia nvda   the dow jones industrial average® dji gained 056 up 18645 to end at 3370410   the comp gained 10698 or 101 to finish at 1074263   the russell 2000® rut advanced 2674 or 149 to close at 182265   the spx added 2716 or 070 moving to 391925 by the end of the session storm watch yesterday chief executiveeconomic weather prognosticator jamie dimon downgraded his comments from last spring about an economic “hurricane” to some “storm clouds” however the jpmorgan chase jpm chief executive seeded another downpour saying the fed may have to raise rates to 6 to defang inflation which is even higher than the 5 level two fed members suggested this week dimon told the fox business channel that the central bank should go to 5 and take a pause to see if prices are easing if the picture isn’t improving the fed could resume tightening in this year’s fourth quarter dimon added that inflation’s path in the coming months isn’t likely to be a predictable one—he told the network “inflation won’t quite go down the way people expected…but it will definitely be coming down a bit” world watch on the subject of rates—and potential recession—the world bank said yesterday it expects global gdp growth of 17 in 2023 the slowest pace since 1993 with the exception of the 2009 and 2020 recessions in its last global economic prospects report in june the development bank forecasted global gdp growth at 30 the bank said “given fragile economic conditions any new adverse development—such as higherthanexpected inflation abrupt rises in interest rates to contain it a resurgence of the covid19 pandemic or escalating geopolitical tensions—could push the global economy into recession” notably growth in china is projected to pick up this year to 43 with the lifting of its covid19 restrictions but the report noted that the forecast is down from last summer with the nation’s continuing problems in real estate manufacturing and global demand energy watch the energy information administration’s eia monthly shortterm energy outlook reported yesterday that the united states is expected to dominate all nonopec oil growth next year bloomberg noted that for 2024 crude production is forecast to reach 128 million barrels per day topping 2019 us drillers have picked up the pace and in 2023 production is expected to reach 124 million barrels jan 12 december cpi and expected earnings from delta dal and taiwan semiconductor tsm jan 13 january university of michigan consumer sentiment and expected earnings from jp morgan jpm bank of america bac citigroup c and wells fargo wfc jan 17 january empire state manufacturing and expected earnings from goldman sachs gs and morgan stanley ms jan 19 december housing starts and building permits philly fed manufacturing index and expected earnings from procter  gamble pg netflix nflx and american express axp jan 20 existing home sales and expected earnings from schlumberger slb and state street stt this post contains sponsored advertising content this content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice