The three major indexes of u.s. stocks opened low on Friday, with the s & p 500 down 0.42%, the Nasdaq down 0.82% and the Dow down 0.41% as of press release.

On Friday, the United States released the Fed's favorite inflation data, the November personal consumption expenditure report, as well as personal income data. The index of new home sales and consumer confidence will also be released today.

The core personal consumption expenditure price index (PCE), the Fed's favorite measure of inflation, rose 4.7 per cent year-on-year, slightly higher than market expectations, according to the data. Economists surveyed expect the index to grow by 4.6% on average. The index rose 0.2% month-on-month, in line with expectations.

The PCE price index rose 5.5 per cent year-on-year and is expected to be 5.5 per cent, while US personal spending rose 0.1 per cent in November from a year earlier and is expected to be 0.2 per cent.

As U. S. stocks resume their declines in December, hopes of a so-called Christmas rally are fading. Both the S & P 500 and the Nasdaq are likely to record their third straight week of declines this week.

Recently, fears of recession have risen again, dashing some investors' hopes of a rebound in the stock market at the end of the year and leading to huge losses in December. Investors worry that excessive tightening by central banks around the world could force the economy into recession.

"in terms of broader market and economic data, next year is no different," said Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at Solus alternative Asset Management. The trend is still the same as the current trend. " He points out that the unanswered question is how high the Fed will raise interest rates.

So far in December, the s & p 500 is down more than 6%, with the Dow down 4.5% and the Nasdaq down 8.7%. All three major stock indexes will record their biggest monthly losses since September. In addition, U. S. stocks are likely to record their worst annual performance since 2008.

Analysts point out that US economic data are not the only reason for another sharp fall in US stocks, and that one of the bigger reasons for the weakness of the US stock market this week is the beginning of the repurchase lock-up period.

According to Goldman Sachs GroupAccording to statistics, the number of US stock buybacks has surged in the past few weeks. Last week's share buybacks were 1.5 times that of the same period last year, mainly in industries such as non-essential consumer goods, technology and communications services, but as many companies entered the repurchase ban period, the number of buybacks fell sharply.

Goldman Sachs Group said Monday was the beginning of the last repurchase lock-up period of the year, with about 33 per cent of companies currently under lock-up period, which will soar to 54 per cent by Friday.

Although the lock-up period was announced a long time ago, the market is worried by a growing number of news about voluntarily suspending share buybacks, which often contain more pessimistic expectations for the future. For example, MeguiarAnd CarMax both announced that they would suspend share buybacks in a difficult macro environment, and Micron also cut capital spending.

According to media statistics, about half of the S & P 500 listed companies have reduced or stopped buybacks in the past quarter.

Some market analysts believe that the suspension of share buybacks by these companies means that it is very different from the confidence shown by listed companies earlier this year, when they were free to buy back their own shares and invest in capital expenditure; these measures send warning signals to the growth of the economy as a whole and indicate that the key support for share prices is that share buybacks may be receding.

The market is still watching what the Fed says is the outlook for monetary policy.Some analysts believe that the intensification of the liquidity crisis will force the Fed to end the contraction early next year.

Fed watchers estimate that the Fed will most likely have to stop selling its current holdings of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities in some form next year, as the lack of liquidity in the financial sector may already be growing, a gap that could threaten the ECB's control of its overnight interest rate target, which is why it may have to respond.

Joseph Wang, chief investment officer of Monetary Macro, believes that the process most commonly known as quantitative tightening (QT) will change in the third quarter of 2023. When this shift comes, "it may be due to the deterioration of liquidity in the government bond market or the continued decline in bank reserves".

Analysts at Nomura expect the Fed to end its balance sheet contraction in September. The Fed is likely to reduce its balance sheet to about $7 trillion, much higher than it was before the epidemic.

Focus stocks

Star technology stocks fell collectively.Tesla, Inc., Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and others fell more than 1%, while Amazon.Com Inc fell slightly.

The trend of popular Chinese stocks diverges.TAL Education Group fell nearly 5%, New Oriental Education & Technology Group and NIO Inc. fell nearly 3%, BABA rose slightly, Bilibili Inc. rose more than 1%.

继$Tesla (TSLA.US)$After shares plunged 8.88 per cent on Thursday, Mr Musk responded after trading that the US economy would fall into a "severe recession" in 2023, demand would fall, and he would not sell Tesla, Inc. shares until 2025. He also stressed that he would not sell Tesla, Inc. 's shares in 2023 "under any circumstances" and stuck to his prediction that, in the long run, "Tesla, Inc. will be the most valuable company in the world." "As of press time, Tesla, Inc. fell slightly.

$AMC Entertainment (AMC.US)$Drop by more than 6%The company announced a new $110 million financing proposal and a reverse split proposal that requires shareholder approval. AMC proposed a reverse split of AMC common stock at a ratio of 1 to 10, and the company required a special shareholders' meeting to approve the reverse split and convert the preferred stock unit APE into AMC common stock.

$Merck & Co (MRK.US)$Weakening slightlyCompany COVID-19 oral medicine has been proved: can effectively shorten the recovery time. On Thursday, local time, British researchers published a peer-reviewed study in the Lancet, showing that the oral antiviral drug Molnupiravir, jointly developed by Merck & Co Inc and Ridgebeck, does not reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in high-risk people who have been vaccinated, but can accelerate patients' recovery.

Facebook Inc parent company of social media platform$Meta Platforms (META.US)$On Thursday, it agreed to settle a class action lawsuit that infringed on users' privacy and pay a settlement of $750 million. The source of the case was the company's disclosure that it had unauthorised sharing of 87 million user data with Cambridge Analytics, which was also linked to Trump's 2016 election. As of press time, Meta Platforms is weak.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard began tracking Rivian, giving it an overweight rating with a target price of $22. Sheppard said in the research newspaper that$Rivian Automotive (RIVN.US)$Benefit from differentiated products, Amazon.Com IncStrong support and proprietary charging network, but the share price is down 79% so far this year, so this may be a good entry point.As of press time, Rivian has fallen by nearly 3 per cent.