Stocks Rally as Hassett Emerges as Front-Runner for Fed Chair

U.S. stocks extended their late-November climb Tuesday as major indexes pushed higher into the closing bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 663.87 points to 47,112.1, a 1.43% gain, while the S&P 500 added 60.76 to finish at 6,765.88, up 0.91%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 153.59, or 0.67%, to 23,025.6, and the Russell 2000 outperformed with a 2.16% rise to 245.09. The broad advance reflected robust participation across sectors: NYSE advancers made up 74.0% of volume, while just 23.6% of issues declined.

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Investors were confronted with a fresh political catalyst after Bloomberg reported that White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Jerome Powell as Chair of the Federal Reserve. Bloomberg reported: “With Hassett, Trump would have a close ally whom the president knows well and trusts installed at the independent central bank… Hassett is seen as someone who would bring the president’s approach to interest-rate cutting to the Fed, which Trump has long wanted to control...” Markets have been sensitive to the prospect of accelerated rate cuts, and the news added a new layer of intrigue to the coming policy calendar.

The macro backdrop itself remained unusually noisy. According to a preliminary ADP National Employment Report update, U.S. private employers shed 13,500 jobs per week for the four weeks ending Nov. 8, data ADP stressed is preliminary and subject to revision. That uncertainty echoed analysis from Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors, who warned that BLS labor statistics are arriving “both delayed and dirty, probably dirtier than normal or inaccurate is probably a better word” due to the recent government shutdown. Surveys still arrive by mail, he noted, often lacking responses and being “heavily” revised—problems that “compounded” as the shutdown slowed government operations

Hatfield said policymakers face a split-screen economy: “The old economy is very weak… but tech and the inputs to tech like power and data centers are very strong." He argued that recessions are driven by declines in investment rather than consumption, across post-war downturns, consumer-spending declines were “0%, but the net decline in investment was 10 percentage points," he said. Hatfield maintained a bullish view into 2026, projecting ~3% U.S. growth and noting that large-cap tech valuations remain “right in line with the market… about two times” on PEG ratios.

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Commodities sent mixed signals. Crude oil futures for January settled at $58.07, down 1.31%, while gold gained 0.87% to $4,166.90, extending its month-long defensive bid. Bitcoin slid 1.98% to $87,126.59, and the VIX tumbled 9.20% to 18.63, reflecting a market that has become more comfortable with end-of-year liquidity and rate-cut expectations.

In corporate news, Dick’s Sporting Goods delivered what would typically be a victory lap quarter—$4.17 billion in sales, EPS of $0.86, and non-GAAP EPS of $2.78, all above expectations—only for the stock to fall roughly 9% and break below its 200-day moving average near 207. Comparable sales rose 5.7%, beating the 3.6% analysts expected, driven by stronger ticket sizes and higher transactions. But investor focus shifted to the recently closed Foot Locker acquisition, where management warned of $500–$750 million in future pre-tax charges and Q4 gross-margin pressure of 1,000–1,500 basis points. Still, guidance for the legacy Dick’s business was raised: full-year comparable-sales growth of 3.5–4.0% and EPS of $14.25–$14.55.