What will shake the market: US housing data and FOMC meeting
The US stock market fluctuated during volatile trading on Monday as investors prepare to find out what the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate decision will be.
The meeting of the US central bank starts on Tuesday, and the decision will be announced on Wednesday, after which a press conference will be held with the participation of its head, Jerome Powell. Most observers expect a three-quarter-point hike in the base rate as the Fed seeks to bring inflation back to its 2% target. But there are also those who predict a more significant increase in the rate – by a whole point.
The Fed has made it clear that its priority is to get inflation under control rather than hurt the economy, despite the recession fears this stance has raised.
The hasty flight from risky assets in anticipation of the next rate hike has extended to equities and cryptocurrencies; at the same time, the price of bitcoin fell below $19 thousand on Monday evening, and then partially won back its fall.
September is usually not a very favorable month for stock investors, but everyone will be watching for the next batch of corporate earnings data that starts rolling in in October.
Here are 3 events that could affect the market on Tuesday:
- Residential construction data
At 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT), data from the real estate sector is due out, including US housing start data for August, which analysts expect is 1.445 million year on year. Also should be released data on building permits for August: analysts expect their figure at the level of 1.610 million year on year. Both indicators will be lower than in the previous month.
- Fed meeting
The two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) begins on Tuesday, and most expect a 0.75 percentage point rate hike when the decision is announced on Wednesday. But we will also learn about the Fed’s expectations for inflation, employment and other economic indicators.
- Income Stitch Fix
Stitch Fix (NASDAQ:SFIX) will report earnings and analysts expect a loss per share of 63 cents on revenue of $488.7 million.
