Investors will breathe a sigh of relief this week, because the Fed has spoken. Last Wednesday, the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates at the same level. The decision to leave the rates as is will certainly help remove the pressure felt by investors and traders. Well, at least until it gets closer to December and the next Fed FOMC meeting.
In the meantime, investors can focus on month-end data – and there will be a fair amount of it this week. Traders will see plenty of manufacturing, consumer, housing and labor-related data. In addition to these economic metrics, investors will also be treated to the critical Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers.
As for earnings, the number of reports will remain light. However, with the quarter ending, earnings season will be here before you know it. The upcoming week already has more stocks reporting than previous weeks.
Finally, we’ll get a few speeches from the Fed this week, as the so-called quiet period for Fed Governors has ended.
Monday
Monday eases into the week. The only piece of data being released is New Home Sales. Last reading, the amount of new homes sold managed to crush both estimates and previous measurements of activity. Investors will be looking to make sure that wasn’t a fluke.
