The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, based in Lebanon, Tennessee, operates roughly 660 Cracker Barrel restaurants and gift shops in 44 states, primarily in the Southeast and the Midwest. It operated 66 Maple Street Biscuit stores at the end of FY24. Founded in 1969, the company has more than 77,000 employees.

Stocks are seeking direction at midday on Friday, seemingly at the predictable impasse that so often kicks in when the phrase 'all-time high' is applicable to many stocks and indices. Nonetheless, the week seems assured to end higher and will therefore mark the second consecutive winning week for stocks.

The Federal Reserve's favorite inflation indicator, the PCE Price Index, will be released by the BEA tomorrow morning. The PCE Index differs from the better-known Consumer Price Index (CPI) because its composition is changed more frequently and it is thus quicker to reflect the impact of real-time pricing fluctuations. In the most recent report, through September, PCE inflation was reported at 2.1% year over year (by comparison, the latest CPI report, through October, had inflation at 2.6%). Core PCE, which removes volatile food and energy prices, rose at a rate of 2.7% in the latest month. Our PCE forecasts call for 2.5% for the headline number and 2.8% for the core reading, as lingering inflation in services remains a challenge for the Fed as it makes progress toward its 2% goal. Overall, inflation in this cycle peaked in summer 2022 and has been on a fairly consistent downward trek since that time. We track 20 inflation measures on a monthly basis. On average, they are indicating that prices are rising at a 2.3% rate year over year, up from 2.0% a month ago. We note the numbers are volatile and are distorted somewhat by swings within the volatile Producer Price Inflation report. Focusing on core inflation -- which we obtain by averaging Core CPI, market-based PCE Ex-Food & Energy (from the GDP report), the five-year forward inflation expectation rate, the 10-year TIPs Break-even Interest Rate, and the Fed's favorite core PCE Price Index -- our reading is 2.4%, down 20 basis points month over month. Looking down the road, investors are expecting that the Federal Reserve's series of rate hikes ultimately will tame inflation, with the five-year forward expectation rate at 2.25%.