On the eve of the announcement of the US Federal Reserve’s decision on cutting key rates, Wall Street ended the session in mixed territory, but indexes were little changed. Data was analyzed today from a report by the country’s Department of Commerce, which showed that retail sales rose in August, contrary to forecasts.
The S&P 500 remained virtually unchanged, rising 0.03% to 5,634.58 points, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.20% to 17,628.06 points. The Dow Jones also remained unchanged, falling 0.04% to 41,606.18 points.
As the Fed’s decision on the direction to follow in relation to the country’s monetary policy approaches, the market continues to bet largely on a reduction in key rates by 50 basis points. “If the Fed doesn’t start the easing cycle with 50 basis points, certainly a 25 basis point move will be dovish,” Quincy Krosby of LPL Financial told Bloomberg.
Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers told Bloomberg that he still believes the Fed should lean toward a 25 basis point cut, but notes that years of trading experience have taught him to respect the market’s message – and that message has been pointing to a 50 basis point cut, Sosnick said.
Now, we just have to wait for Jerome Powell’s comments tomorrow. Whatever the chairman of the US Federal Reserve says at his press conference on the state of the US economy – scheduled for 7pm tomorrow – could help boost the confidence of those worried about a recession in the short term.
Among the main market movements, Tupperware stood out, which, according to Bloomberg, is about to declare bankruptcy and seek legal protection. The company has debts worth 700 million dollars, and this week broke the terms of the agreement with its debtors to repay them. In the last five days, the company’s shares have fallen more than 50%.
Among the “big tech” companies, Apple advanced 0.22%, Amazon appreciated 1.08%, Meta rose 0.57%, Alphabet grew 0.81% and Microsoft gained 0.88%. Nvidia lost 1.02%.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
