PCE Inflation Increased In Line With Expectation

Today’s pre-market activity is positive, with futures in the green across major indexes: the Dow is +110 points at this hour, with the S&P 500 +26 and the Nasdaq leading the way, +158 points. The small-cap Russell 2000 is +5. Each of these indexes has been trading +1% or higher through the past five trading days, and between +4% (Nasdaq) and a robust +7% (Dow) off its January lows.PCE Numbers In-Line for DecemberThe Fed’s preferred gauge for inflation is the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report, which came out this morning for the month of December. Results were as in-line with expectations as one could expect: +0.3% on headline PCE month over month, +2.6% year over year; core reads (stripping out volatile food and energy spending) came in at +0.2% month over month and +2.8% year over year — all slightly elevated from the previous month, but all just as expected.For a little context, these figures also nestle comfortably within the mid-range of where we’ve seen these numbers throughout the past year. Headline PCE year over year reached a high of +2.8% back in March of 2024, and a low of +2.1% in September. Core year over year has spent its third-straight month at +2.8%, with January 2024’s +3.1% high and June’s +2.6% low.Nominal Personal Income for December was +0.4% to $92.0 billion for the month. This was also in-line with analysts’ expectations. Personal Spending was slightly elevated from the consensus estimate: +0.7% for the month, from +0.6% expected, and +0.4% posted a month ago.Q4 Earnings Parade Continues: XOM, CVX, CL & MorePlenty of Q4 earnings reports are out this morning, as well, but most were not perfect beats. ExxonMobil (XOM), for instance, beat estimates comfortably on its bottom line with earnings of $1.67 per share over $1.55 projected, but revenues for Q4 of $83.43 billion missed the Zacks consensus by -4.24%. Conversely, Chevron (CVX) missed on earnings for the second time in three months — $2.06 per share versus $2.19 expected — but beat on the top line by +11.2% to $52.23 billion.Colgate-Palmolive (CL) also put up mixed Q4 results, with earnings of 91 cents per share outpacing expectations by 2 cents on revenues of $4.94 billion, which came up short of the $4.99 billion analysts had been expecting. Pharma giant AbbVie (ABBV) pulled beats on both top and bottom lines this morning: earnings of $2.16 per share beat Q4 estimates by 3 cents, while revenues of $15.1 billion comfortably bettered the $14.87 billion in the Zacks consensus. Both of these stocks have impressive earnings beat streaks going back six years.Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.This top pick is among the most innovative financial firms. With a fast-growing customer base (already 50+ million) and a diverse set of cutting edge solutions, this stock is poised for big gains. Of course, all our elite picks aren’t winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Nano-X Imaging which shot up +129.6% in little more than 9 months.Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Chevron Corporation (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL): Free Stock Analysis Report AbbVie Inc. (ABBV): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks