There was some moderate good news on the inflation front, with seasonally adjusted overall inflation up 0.1% month over month in November. Significantly better than October's 0.4%. Without seasonal adjustment, the year-over-year view was 7.1%.

Slowing inflation is certainly better, although as Nancy Davis, founder of Quadratic Capital Management and portfolio manager of the Quadratic Interest Rate Volatility and Inflation Hedge Exchange-Traded Fund, said in an emailed note, "While Tuesday's report showed a deceleration in inflation, which is great news, inflation is still very elevated and is over three times greater than the Fed's 2% target, so this isn't time for the Fed to take a victory lap."

Also, "Tuesday's number won't likely change anything for the Federal Reserve ahead of its meeting this week, as its decision was likely made weeks ago. Powell wants to show the market that the days of the big, 75 basis point hikes are over and the pace is slowing, so it's likely that the Fed announces a smaller 50 basis point rate hike on Wednesday."