Stock market today: Live updates

Bank of Japan board members discussed how to communicate a shift in the central bank’s yield curve control policy in October, the meeting minutes revealed.

The BOJ adjusted its yield curve control policy in October, saying that the the target level of the 10-year Japanese government bond yield will be held at 0%, but it will take the upper limit of 1% “as a reference” instead of a strict cap.

Some members were of the view that despite the move, it was necessary to emphasize that the BOJ still intended to continue with monetary easing with YCC.

One member also said that the bank should make it clear the measure was not intended as preparation for discontinuing YCC and the negative interest rate policy.

Another BOJ board member pointed out that in order to avoid unnecessary market speculation, the bank should clearly explain that its policy decisions were based on the outlook for economic activity and prices.

“This is to avoid encouraging speculative transactions, by giving the impression that the BOJ was forced to make policy decisions to follow fluctuations in market rates,” the member said, according to the minutes.

— Lim Hui Jie

Japan’s headline inflation rate slowed to 2.8% in November — its lowest level since July 2022 — from 3.3% in October.

Core inflation in November, which strips out prices of fresh food, slowed to 2.5% from 2.9%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters.

The so called “core-core” inflation, which strips out prices of both fresh food and energy, came in at 3.8%, down from 4% in October. This is a key metric considered by the Bank of Japan in its monetary policy decisions.

Economic reports on Friday morning will serve as one of the final check-ins on the U.S. consumer and inflation before the end of the year.

At 8:30 a.m. ET, November data for personal income, consumer spending and the personal consumption expenditures report are due out.

Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, is expected to come in at 3.5% over the past 12 months, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones.

— Jesse Pound

Shares of Nike fell more than 10% in after hours trading on Thursday after the sports apparel company reported weaker-than-expected sales for its fiscal second quarter.

Nike reported $13.39 billion of revenue, below the $13.43 billion expected by analysts, according to LSEG. The company also warned that its revenue outlook for the second half of the year could be “softer.”

As part of the quarterly report, the sneaker giant said it plans to costs by about $2 billion over the next three years.

— Jesse Pound

Stock futures opened lower, with Dow futures down about 95 points.

— Jesse Pound

Here’s where the major averages stand for the week ahead of Friday’s trading:

• The S&P 500 is up 0.58%
• The Nasdaq is up 1.01%
• The Dow is up 0.27%
• The Russell 2000 is up 1.61%

— Jesse Pound