The clock ticks into a busy week, with major indexes finishing slightly higher on Monday. A wave of new earnings sets in for the week, with the Federal Reserve policy decision and the April jobs data taking centre stage. These events could influence market sentiment and trading patterns.
🎯Wednesday will be a pivotal moment as we receive Jerome Powell’s monetary policy decision and his tone at the press conference after the decision’s release. The majority of analysts expect no change in interest rates and a possible hawkish tone by Powell to reinforce the Fed’s determination to return inflation to the 2% path sustainably.
Nonetheless, a silver lining in the balance sheet runoff pace could help cushion the Fed’s hawkish stance, giving the stock market the needed sense of comfort.
🎯Finally, we will receive the labour market data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics this week. Buckle up is our advice. Eagle eyes zoom into the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, which will likely show about 8.7 million job openings in March. This is a dramatic easing from 2 job openings for every unemployed person to about 1.3.
🎯Friday will bring us closer to the NonFarm payroll data. Consensus estimates call for a 210,000 gain in employment for April, which is a drop of 303,000 added in February. The unemployment rate should remain stable at 3.8%.
Hence, sit tight as we digest all the US economy’s micro and macroeconomic outlooks.
Cheers.
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