The US Federal Reserve finally announced on Wednesday the decision to revise the refinancing rate. The refinancing rate was reduced by 0.5 percentage points. It should be noted that this is the first decision to reduce the refinancing rate in the last 4 years.

U.S. retail sales rose unexpectedly in August as a decline in auto dealership revenue was more than offset by a rise in online purchases. This suggests that the US economy remained on solid footing for most of the third quarter.

In addition, the US Commerce Department's report on September 17 showed that retail sales in July were better than previously thought.

And so, in August, retail trade in the US increased by 0.1%, the revised figure for July is 1.1%, instead of the previously estimated 1%. Meanwhile, economists polled by Reuters had predicted that retail sales would decline by 0.2% in August after a rise in July.

On a year-over-year basis, retail sales increased by 2.1% in August over last year's August. Online store sales rose 1.4% after falling 0.4% in July.

Another good indicator. US homebuilders' confidence in the economy rose in September as mortgage rates fell. The Wells Fargo housing market index of builders' confidence rose to 41 this month from 39 in August, snapping four straight months of declines. Despite the increase, this figure remains relatively low as rising costs continue to hold back construction.

The average interest rate on 30-year mortgage loans in the US recently dropped to 6.2%, while as recently as last October they were 8%.

The index of prices of industrial products in August registered a slightly higher growth than forecast, which, however, corresponds to the downward trend of inflation.

The manufacturing price index for final demand rose 0.2 percent last month, according to statistics released by the Labor Department, while economists had forecast a 0.1 percent increase.

A narrower index of manufacturing prices, which excludes food, electricity and retail prices, rose 0.3%.

The increase in the price index of industrial products is due to the 0.4% increase in the prices of services registered last month, which in turn is largely due to the 4.8% increase in prices in the hotel sector. By the way, in the same period, air transport prices decreased by 0.8%.

In the US, factory output rose 0.9% in August, following a 0.7% drop in July. This happened against the background of the recovery of automobile production. 

Compared to the previous year, factory production increased by 0.2% in August. The manufacturing sector, which accounts for 10.3% of the economy, continues to suffer losses due to high borrowing costs.

After a long period of decline, in the first two trading days of the week, Intel shares registered a 14 percent increase. This happened against the background of cooperation with Amazon, in the framework of which the Silicon Valley giant will produce artificial intelligence chips together with the world's largest cloud service provider Amazon Web Services.

Earlier, the Biden administration announced the provision of 3 billion US dollars in funding to Intel within the framework of the state support law for chip production in the United States. The purpose of the support is to ensure the uninterrupted supply of modern chips used for defense and intelligence purposes.

Despite a 14% gain, Intel's stock price is still 50% lower than at the start of the year as investors still await signs of a recovery under CEO Pat Gelsinger.

The capitalization of the once largest manufacturer of chips in the world is now less than 100 billion dollars, as a result of which the company is not even among the top ten in the industry.

Deutsche Bank raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 5,750 from 5,500, citing strong share buybacks, strong corporate earnings and strong capital inflows.

 "We see S&P 500 earnings continuing to grow in double digits, which is consistent with natural growth rates outside of recessions," Deutsche Bank strategists said in a statement.

Deutsche Bank also affirmed its earnings per share forecast for S&P 500 companies at $258 in 2024 and $285 in 2025.

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