Wall Street snaps winning streak and moves into consolidation

Wall Street pulled back today in consolidation of the sharp post election rally that lifted the indexes to all time fresh highs in November.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 54.92 points, or 0.3%, to close at 18,868.14 while the  S&P 500 lost 3.45 points, or 0.2% and closed at 2,176.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index, was the outsider and closed higher by 18.96 points, or 0.4%, to 5,294.58. 

The US data was important today, but came in below market's expectations. Industrial Production was unchanged in October after decreasing 0.2% in September. The Producer Price index was also unchanged in October, while expectations were for a 0.3% advance.  However, the Producer Price index advanced to a 12-month high by 0.8%. Overall, not a poor outcome and coupled with yesterday's retails sales, bets remain in place for a Fed hike in December, especially given that Q4 GDP estimates were likely tweaked higher and Trumps policies could see a rise in fiscal stimulus that could accelerate inflation enough for the Fed to be more active in 2017. However, there is a toss up between such sentiment and uncertainty.