Existing home sales, Micron earnings, Carnival Reports: 3 things to watch

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Stocks regained earlier losses as investors tried to shrug off worries about recession to snap a multi-day losing streak.

The much-hoped-for Santa Clause rally hasn't materialized yet this month as investors fear the Federal Reserve's aggressive stance toward fighting inflation could tip the economy into a recession. The Fed has signaled it intends to keep interest rates higher for longer, rather than the pause or pivot that investors were expecting. 

The Fed also said last week its benchmark rate may shoot higher than earlier forecasts as it works to tame inflation. Policy makers expect growth in gross domestic product to slow from earlier forecasts and unemployment to rise.

A tight labor market is something the Fed is also watching. New data on unemployment for last week is due out later today. Companies have been laying off workers on the expectation that business will slow after growing too quickly during the pandemic, but November's job report was unexpectedly strong.

Investors will also get data on housing, consumer confidence and personal consumption expenditures, a key Fed data point on inflation.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Home sales

Data on existing home sales is due out at 10:00 ET (15:00 GMT) amid a broad slowdown in housing as mortgage rates rise. Analysts expect an annualized 4.2 million increase for November compared with the prior reading of 4.43 million.

2. Micron earnings

Chip maker Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) is expected to report a loss of 1 cent a share on earnings of $4.15 billion.

3. Carnival earnings

Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) is expected to report a loss of 88 cents on revenue of $3.1B, and analysts will be listening to what it says about booking demand for 2023 as the cruise industry continues to recover from the pandemic.