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Wednesday’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision will be the main event of a week of several notable earnings reports and investor days, as well as the latest economic data.
The Federal Open Market Committee concludes a two-day meeting Wednesday afternoon with a decision expected at 2 p.m. ET. Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference 30 minutes later. The chances of changes in the Federal Funds Rate implied by futures markets have been volatile following a series of banking crises. At the start of the week, the odds trended towards a quarter point increase.
Central bank watchers are also awaiting a decision from the Bank of England on Thursday. Back in Washington, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is due to testify before congressional subcommittees on Wednesday and Thursday. She is expected to discuss the recent banking turmoil, President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal and the latest on the US debt ceiling.
Companies reporting this week include
Nike
on Tuesday,
Tough
on Wednesday and
Accenture
,
Darden restaurants
,
And
General Mills
everything on thursday. Investor meetings are hosted by
Adobe
And
NVIDIA
on Tuesday,
Autodesk
on Wednesday and
altria
group and
rafters
on Thursday.
The week’s economic data highlights fall on Friday: the Census Bureau will release its February durable goods report and S&P Global will release both its manufacturing and services PMIs for March. Data on the US housing market will also be released earlier in the week.
Tuesday 21.3
Nike announces results for the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
Adobe, Nvidia and
Roper Technologies
hold investor meetings.
The national association of Realtors reports existing home sales for February. The consensus estimate is for a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.2 million homes sold, up 200,000 from January. Existing home sales have fallen for 12 straight months to their lowest level in more than a decade as soaring mortgage rates shake the housing market.
Wednesday 22.3
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appears before a Senate subcommittee to consider President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2024. She is due to testify before a budget appropriations subcommittee on Thursday, with the fight over the debt ceiling at the forefront.
Chewy reports results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.
Autodesk and Hershey are hosting their 2023 Investor Days.
The Federal Open Market Committee announces monetary policy decision. Traders are pricing in a 75% chance that the FOMC will hike the federal funds rate by a quarter point to between 4.75% and 5.00%. Less than two weeks ago, following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish testimony before the Senate, Wall Street was debating whether the central bank would hike rates by a quarter or a half percentage point at this meeting. But the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have caused historic swings in the bond market, with yields plummeting at the fastest rate in four decades.
Thursday, 23.3
Accenture, Darden restaurants,
FactSet research systems
,
and General Mills are holding conference calls to discuss quarterly results.
chevron and
Elevance Health
hold investor meetings.
Altria Group and
original parts
hold their annual investor days.
The Bank of England announces its monetary policy decision. The market is taking a coin toss as to whether the BOE will leave interest rates unchanged at 4% or raise them by a quarter of a percentage point.
The Census Bureau reports new residential sales statistics for February. A seasonally adjusted annual rate of 635,000 new homes sold is expected, down 35,000 from previously.
Friday 24.3
The Census Bureau releases February Durable Goods report. Economists are forecasting that new orders for durable goods will rise 0.6% from January to $274 billion. Excluding transport, durable goods will increase by 0.5%.
S&P Global publications both the purchasing managers’ indices for manufacturing and services for March. The consensus calls for a reading of 47 for manufacturing
PMI
and 50.2 for the services PMI. Both numbers are roughly in line with the February data.
write to Nicholas Jasinski at nicholas.jasinski@barrons.com
Source : www.barrons.com