MARKET REPORT
🚨Thursday:
• Economic Data: Q1 GDP, Jobless Claims, Durable Goods Orders, Trade Balance, Pending Home Sales
• Fed Speakers: Barkin, Hammack, Barr
• Earnings: Nike $NKE, Walgreens $WBA, McCormick $MKC
🚨Friday:
• Economic Data: PCE Price Index, Personal Income, Personal Spending, Consumer Sentiment
• Fed Speakers: Cook, Hammack
- Wall Street's main indexes were mixed on Wednesday as an Israel-Iran ceasefire appeared to be holding and investors parsed remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during the second day of his congressional testimony.
- Despite isolated violations of the ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump a day earlier, investors remained optimistic that the truce between the two warring nations would last.
- Powell, in his congressional testimony, said Trump's tariffs can cause a one-time jump in prices, but the risk it could cause more persistent inflation is large enough for the central bank to be careful in considering more rate cuts.
- The comments come a day after the top policymaker emphasized the Fed's wait-and-watch approach, but signaled immediate rate cuts could be considered if inflation cools or if the labor market weakens.
- Traders are pricing in a nearly 70% chance of the first 25-bps rate cut for the year coming in September, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.