After the last few weeks’ extreme volatility, we might see calmer price action in the equity markets this week as there will be only a handful of economic data releases.
Monday will be a bank holiday, and besides the existing home sales data on Wednesday there will be no major economic data releases scheduled this week.
The housing market took a nosedive in December due to increasing home prices and concerns about rising mortgage payments, thanks to a roaring economy that prompted the Fed to hike interest rates. With the prospect of more rate hikes in the coming months amid increasing inflation, home buyers appear to be shy about making any long-term commitments right now.
Nonetheless, investors will likely remain busy with the ongoing Q4 2017 earnings season as we will see a number of large-cap earnings report throughout the week. In particular, investors who own Walmart Inc.’s (WMT ) stocks will be eager to see how their Q4 2017 cash flow performed as WMT’s stock has remained bearish in recent months.
To sum up, markets might mostly trade sideways this week, but if we see some key corporate earnings reports beating estimates by a huge margin, it might help investors regain faith and bring out the bulls from their hideouts.
Check out last week’s Market Glance here, in which investors focused on Coca-Cola’s dismal financial performance in the last quarter.
