Category: Uncategorized

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Now, for what to watch for the week of December 29th.

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We’re going to start off on the Federal Reserve. We’re going to getting minutes from the Fed’s December FOMC meeting on Tuesday.

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Investors will be parsing through the minutes to see how divided policy makers really are after delivering the third rate cut of the year earlier this month.

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Several officials dissenting at December’s meeting, but for opposite reasons, underscoring a fed that’s far from unified.

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The key question now is how cautious policy makers could be in 2026.

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Moving over to housing, new pending home sales data for November coming in on Monday.

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Economists forecasting that number to come in at 0.8%. That’s a full percentage point lower than October’s print, signaling that home sales are still rising, but more slowly compared to the previous month.

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The new data suggesting that fewer buyers were willing or able to sign contracts amid elevated mortgage rates and continued affordability pressures.

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And stick with housing. We’re going to be getting more insight into home prices on Tuesday with the Case-Shiller home price Index.

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Prices expected to cool slightly to 0.1% signaling that homes are still getting more expensive overall, but not as quickly as the previous month.

Today, 29 hospitals and health systems across the region are implementing temporary visitor restrictions amid a recent increase in respiratory illness.

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Area hospitals are currently seeing higher-than-normal volumes of patients with positive cases of respiratory illnesses, including influenza, COVID-19, and other seasonal viruses, according to the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association (GDAHA).

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As part of the restrictions, anyone ill with any respiratory symptoms, including coughing, fever, chills, headache, vomiting, sore throat, muscle aches, or diarrhea, will not be allowed to visit.

The same goes for anyone under the age of 14, even if they have received the seasonal vaccine or received the appropriate vaccine when it becomes available.

Hospitals are asking community members to postpone visiting if they are feeling unwell, especially if experiencing symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, or congestion.

As reported at News Center 7 at 5:00, visitor restrictions are temporary and will be reviewed regularly.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The president of the Kennedy Center on Friday fiercely criticized a musician’s sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue after the White House announced that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.

“Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” the venue’s president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with The Associated Press.

In the letter, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages “for this political stunt.”

Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A drummer and vibraphone player, Redd has presided over holiday “Jazz Jams” at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William “Keter” Betts. In an email Wednesday to The Associated Press, Redd said he pulled out of the concert in the wake of the renaming.

“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd said.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him.

According to the White House, Trump’s handpicked board approved the renaming, which scholars have said violates the law. Kennedy niece Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office, and former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any changes would have to be approved by Congress.

The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.

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Associated Press writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.