A mixed day after Uncle Powell’s testimony

The stock market was in major decline during the testimony session. Nasdaq rose sharply in the final trading hour. The takeback from two days of testimony is clear: The Fed has an uncompleted task of raising interest rates.

Swing between gains and losses were prominent among major indices after investors digested a difficult Tuesday as hopes were dashed of more dovish comments. To some traders, it was an opportunity and a set-up by Uncle Powell to reset expectations and lay the foundation for the possibility of a bumpy ride in the inflation fight narrative.

The next hurdle: February job report on Friday

A new test for the market on Friday as risk on appetite is now weighing on a modest job report. After a massive jump of 517,000 jobs in January, traders expect a relatively calm number of 225,000 jobs.

Any upside in the final data could dampen optimism and unleash the animal spirit of the stock market and shadowed sentiments in the following week. We will be focusing closely on this.

Nasdaq recovery swing

We can see the index respecting major support and resistance lines using the same chart (since the start of the week). It is crawling to stay above the 297+ market. We see the immediate area of support and resistance as follows:

a) Support: 294+, 290+

b) Resistance: 300+, 303+, 305 region

What are our dishes today?

At 9.30 pm, we will have our initial jobless claims, which are expected to climb slightly to 195K from 190K.

Fed Vice Chair for Supervision will be speaking at 11 pm.

It is 9 March, Thursday, 8.55 am in Singapore and 7.55 pm in New York. As markets shift toward more data-focused, given the Fed’s aim, we will make more nimble trades in the coming weeks as indices swing in ranging mode but bullish in the medium term.