Was Powell’s Press Conference A Bullish Gamechanger?
What’s in Today’s Report:
- Why Did Stocks Rally During Powell’s Press Conference?
- Was the FOMC Decision A Bullish Gamechanger (No, But It Was a Positive Event)
- EIA Update and Oil Market Analysis
Futures are solidly higher on continued momentum from Wednesday’s “not hawkish” post-FOMC rally and following better-than-expected META earnings.
META surged 19% overnight as the company reported better-than-feared earnings driven by gains in artificial intelligence and aggressive cost-cutting.
Today will be a very busy day of micro and macro-economic events as we get major central bank decisions, more important economic data, and key earnings.
First, this morning there are two central bank decisions: BOE Rate Decision (E: 50 bps hike) and ECB Rate Decision (E: 50 bps hit). If either is overtly hawkish (maybe the ECB) it could send global yields higher and take back some of yesterday’s rally.
After those two central bank decisions, we get an update on the labor market via Jobless Claims (E: 193K), inflation via Productivity & Costs (E: 2.4%, 1.5%), and economic growth via Factory Orders (E: 2.2%). Especially in light of Powell’s not hawkish press conference, data that shows stability and declining price pressures will support stocks.
Finally, on earnings, today is likely the single most important day of the earnings season as we get results from three of the most widely held stocks in the market: AAPL ($1.93), AMZN ($0.15), and GOOGL ($1.14).
