(As of 7:10am, PST)
It seems like it’s been a long time since we opened a
trading session with green on the board. After a fourth session in a row of
market losses, today we are out of the gate headed in a positive direction. But,
if we have learned anything in this volatile beginning of a year, one trading
session can take us all for a roller coaster ride. Investors today are
digesting comments released in a statement from Federal Reserve Chairwoman
Janet Yellen ahead of her testimony to the House Financial Services panel later
this morning. In her statement, Yellen did not back away from expectations for
additional, gradual, interest-rate hikes but she was open to taking a pass on
raising the fed fund rate in March. Experts are saying that her comments were
slightly dovish but maybe not as dovish as investors would have liked to see.
The S&P futures pulled back slightly after the comments. All eyes will be
on the actual testimony which is scheduled for later this morning. In news
around the globe, Japan’s Nikkei was down over 2% but that was an improvement
from being down over 4% earlier in the trading day. European bourses were up
over 2% paced by a rebound in depressed bank stocks. Oil continues its downward
spiral and is currently trading below $28 per barrel. There will be a weekly
inventory report later this morning but this report will take a back seat to
Yellen’s testimony on Capitol Hill.
No comments:
Post a Comment