Investor Sentiment Update: Not As Bullish as You Might Think

What’s in Today’s Report:

• Investor Sentiment Update:  Not As Bullish as You Might Think

Futures are modestly higher thanks to a dovish WSJ article on the Fed overnight.

The WSJ reported President Trump will employ a “Shadow Fed” strategy and name Powell’s replacement in the coming months.  That replacement is expected to be more dovish than Powell and that’s weighing on the dollar and boosting futures.

Today focus will be on economic data and the key reports to watch include (in order of importance):  Jobless Claims (E: 245K), Durable Goods (E: 0.1%) and Final Q1 GDP (E: -0.2%).  Given this week’s slight dovish drift in the Fed, markets will want to see stable data further the idea of rate cuts in the next two to three months.

Speaking of the Fed, there are several speakers today including Barkin (8:00 a.m. ET), Hammack (9:00 a.m. ET) and Barr (1:15 p.m. ET).  Markets will be looking to see if any of them also float the idea of a July rate cut.  If so, it won’t make a July cut more likely, but it will further solidify expectations for a September cut (which will be a mild tailwind on stocks).