The stock market saw sustained gains last week and the Friday jobs report beat expectations. However, in this type of negative economic environment even good news is perceived as bad. The thinking is that a good jobs report will allow the Fed to hike interest rates even more aggressively and thus slow down the economy in the third quarter.
Upcoming economic reports will provide a clearer picture into the next moves of the stock market and the Fed. This week is the start of Q2 earnings season with some major banks reporting, two inflation reports, and a consumer confidence report. These are all important reports which will give investors enough information to estimate the Fed’s next rate decision at the end of July.
It’s possible the stock market may retest the lows of June if corporations forecast lower earnings for the 2nd half of the year or if inflation comes in above expectations once again.
Photograph by Jack Cohen on Unsplash
.
.
.
.
.