Fed minutes, housing, and business activity: what investors need to know this week

In the last trading days of 2025 and the first session of 2026, investors will have to study a range of statistical data on the housing market, as well as the minutes of the December Fed meeting. At that time, the regulator cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points for the third time in a row, but three governors opposed the decision. In addition, market participants will be watching the price war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance for Warner Bros. Discovery and the process of selecting the next Fed chair, The Wall Street Journal noted.

On Monday, December 29, the National Association of Realtors will publish its November home sales index.

On Tuesday, December 30, the US Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its December meeting. At that time, two members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) advocated keeping the rate unchanged, while another advocated lowering it by 0.5 percentage points instead of 0.25 percentage points. S&P Cotality Case-Shiller will also present its housing price index for October.

On Wednesday, December 31, New Year's Eve, trading on the US bond market will end earlier than usual, while the stock market will operate as normal. Weekly statistics on unemployment benefit claims will be published.

On Thursday, January 1, US bond and stock markets will be closed, as will many markets in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas.

On Friday, January 2, S&P Global will release manufacturing PMI indices for several countries, including the United States.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor