US
stocks are looking to extend yesterday’s rally which saw the S&P500 rise
1.2% - its biggest gain in more than two months. There’s a cautious tone
permeating the early trade however, as investors set up for this afternoon’s
release of the Federal Reserve’s policy statement. The central bank wraps up a
two day meeting at 2 pm EST today with a brief statement regarding its interest
rate decision. While the Fed has made it clear that a July rate hike is
unlikely, investors will be looking for any hints in the statement that point
to a September hike. Yellen most recently has forecasted a rate hike to come later in the year, however with the recent turbulence in China, there’s also a chance that
language surrounding a September hike could be downplayed. Economic data is
light today with a disappointing report on pending US home sales adding to the
cautious sentiment. Pending home sales dropped -1.8% in June, falling from a
record pace set in May. In overseas action, European markets are heading
towards a mixed close, while Chinese stocks recovered some of Monday’s losses
with the Shanghai index adding back 3.4%. Commodity prices continue to tumble
with gold falling to $1,090/oz. while oil trades around $47.60/barrel as of this
writing. The US dollar index is inching higher today, as are interest rates.
No comments:
Post a Comment