There will be no rest for investors this coming week as they await a marquee report on the state of the U.S. labor market, along with biannual Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Was January’s jobs number a ‘fluke’? On the economic data front, the most important question that investors will be looking to answer is whether January’s huge job gains continued in February. The U.S. economy added 517,000 jobs in January, according to the Labor Department, far outstripping expectations and setting in motion a market rethink on just how high the Federal Reserve will take interest rates in its effort to bring down inflation.
What will Powell say? Investors haven’t heard from Powell since he participated in a Q&A at the Economic Club of Washington on Feb. 7. As a result, investors will be listening closely to Powell to see what the Fed chair has to say about the central bank’s efforts to crush inflation when he heads to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, followed by testimony before the House Financial Services Committee a day later.
What’s more, many on Wall Street expect bond yields to continue to climb, potentially adding to the pressure facing U.S. equity benchmarks like the S&P 500 index SPX , Nasdaq Composite COMP and Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA .
Well if the past is any indicator Powell gives another face ripper!
No Bueno!
During his back-and-forth with private-equity billionaire David Rubenstein, Powell reiterated that signs of disinflation are emerging, although he acknowledged the journey back to the Fed’s 2% target would likely be “bumpy.”
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Source: MarketWatch - 🏆 3. / 97 Read more »
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