The U.S. stock market is positioned to move higher at the opening bell this morning, as a busy week on Wall Street begins. Over the next several days, investors will receive a handful of important economic reports, including a key inflation number at the end of the week. In addition, numerous corporations will continue to post their fourth-quarter results. As we were preparing this piece, the S&P 500 Index futures were up almost 20 points (0.40%) in pre-market trading.
In terms of economic news, today and tomorrow should be relatively quiet. However, the pace will pick up as the week progresses. On Thursday, we will get a look at the preliminary fourth-quarter GDP (gross domestic product) report. Here, analysts expect the numbers will show that the economy expanded at an annualized rate of roughly 2.0% during the quarter. It should be noted that many investors have been voicing concerns about a potential recession. For now, the much-feared slowdown does not seem to be materializing, as the consumer and the labor market continue to show surprising strength. On Friday, the PCE (Personal Consumption and Expenditures) Price Index for December will be reported. The core number, which excludes volatile food and energy items, is expected to show that prices rose around 3.0% during the month, on a year over year basis. This outcome would provide confirmation that the rate of inflation is gradually moving lower, and may soon meet the Federal Reserve’s 2.0% target number. Investors will be paying close attention to this issuance, as the central bank has suggested that it could reduce interest rates in the near future.
In the corporate sector, the fourth-quarter earnings season continues to progress. So far, we have heard from the big financial corporations, and the results have been somewhat mixed. Over the next few days, we will hear from numerous companies operating in a wide range of industries. Here, reports from Netflix (NFLX) and Tesla (TSLA) should be closely followed by Wall Street and will likely receive plenty of media coverage.
The stock market has managed to press ahead lately. Last week, the S&P 500 Index broke through the widely-watched 4,800 level, and into new high ground. The move was largely fueled by strength in the technology sector. It remains to be seen if traders can push stocks higher from these levels, or if a period of consolidation will be needed. – Adam Rosner
At the time of this article’s writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.
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