What a huge two weeks with US Economic data and 278 of the 500 S&P500 stock reporting this week, while the US Presidential election and Fed Funds rate will be the focus next week.
Economic data
In terms of economic data, the two major numbers reported on Wednesday were both softer than consensus with JOLTs Job Openings had an actual of 7.443m versus 7.99m consensus while the US GDP actual of 2.8% was also below consensus of 3.0%. Last night’s Core PCE Index was in line with expectations at 0.3% month on month. The all-important Non-Farm Payrolls number is due at 11:30 tonight.
Reporting season
The US corporate reporting season has its most important week with 278 of the 500 S&P stocks reporting. 6 of the Magnificent 7 have now reported with Tesla reporting last Thursday morning after the close and jumping 22% in last Friday mornings trading session on its stellar forward guidance. Alphabet (GOOG) also reported well on Wednesday morning and rose 2.9% on its earnings and revenue beat.
Meta and Microsoft didn’t fare quite so well dropping 4.1% and 6.1%, respectively by the closing bell this morning after both beat forecast earnings and revenue but Meta cited higher AI cost going forward while Microsoft forecast slower cloud business growth. After the market close this morning Apple and Amazon announced their quarterly results. In the afterhours trading session Apple was down 0.5% even on strong iPhone sales and Amazon was up 4.7% as investors seem less concerned about Amazon’s AI spend compared to Meta and Microsoft. The US market closed down 1.9% this morning on these results.
Next week
The US Elections for President, Congress and Senate will be the market driver mid next week while the Fed announcement will be key next Friday. The Presidential race remains too close to call while a Fed rate cut of an additional 25bps has a 97% probability.
Ends
About Greg Boland
Greg Boland is the Chief Strategy Officer for Tiger Brokers. His more than 35 years of specialist experience in capital markets includes exchange management, investment advisory management, surveillance and risk and compliance, operations, and governance, and he is an authority in trading systems and methodologies (including online), exchange-traded equities and derivatives, equity options, index futures and options, and financial futures.
