Market Drama

Welcome to this week’s Market Drama!

• The S&P 500 was up 2.2% last week. Currently it is up 6.4% for the year. 
• Nasdaq was up 4.7%, which tells you the riskier part of the stock market rallied more. 
• We had better than expected fourth quarter GDP numbers. 
• In-line inflation numbers: 
  • Core PCE was up 4.4% year-over-year.
  • Fourth quarter GDP rose 2.9% for the quarter. Better than the expected number of 2.8%.
    • Biggest drivers of the growth were government spending and inventories.
    • Consumption hasn’t collapsed. 

When it comes to this week: 

• The Fed will announce if they’re hiking interest rates by 25 basis points, 50 basis points, or half a percent, a quarter of a percent on Wednesday. 
• The market will be watching and looking for signs on what to expect, at the press conference with the Fed.
• As of now they have forecasted that interest rates will hike up to 5%. 

Stay tuned for next week.

– Andres