Top 5 things to watch in markets in the week ahead
Investing.com — Tuesday’s U.S. inflation figures will be in focus as markets look for clues on the timing of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Earnings season continues, oil prices look set to remain choppy, while the UK and Japan are to release what will be closely watched economic data. Here’s what you need to know to start your week.
After recent strong jobs and growth data saw markets push back bets on the timing of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, all eyes will be on Tuesday’s inflation report for January.
Any signs that price pressures are rebounding could push rate cut bets even further into the future.
Economists are expecting a 0.2% rise in consumer prices from the prior month, for an annual increase of 2.9%. Underlying inflation is seen increasing 3.8% from a year earlier.
Market watchers will also get the chance to hear from several Fed officials during the week, including Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and San Francisco Fed head Mary Daly.
The economic calendar also includes retail sales figures for January on Thursday along with the weekly report on initial jobless claims, while a report on producer price inflation and preliminary data on consumer sentiment is due out on Friday.
Earnings season continues in the week ahead after the S&P 500 closed above 5,000 for the first time on Friday and Nasdaq briefly traded above 16,000, boosted by megacaps and chip stocks, including Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) along with upbeat earnings results.
With results in from about two-thirds of S&P 500 companies, LSEG data now shows Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter earnings growth of 9.0% versus expectations for 4.7% growth on Jan. 1 while 81% of companies are beating
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