Despite assurance from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that there are no decisive signs of wage inflation yet, higher-than-expected figures for February’s CPI would certainly send investors into a tizzy about rate hikes.
Besides the consumer price index, investors will also follow the retail sales and housing starts data this week as both fundamental indicators will help them gauge the overall direction of the U.S. economy.
As it is already the middle of March, there won’t be many important Q4 earnings releases this week. However, the market will be keen to see what management at Broadcom Limited (AVGO ) has to say during their earnings call after news broke that their attempt to merge with Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM ) might get traction as half of QCOM’s board is actually on board.
To sum up, the roller coaster ride of U.S. equities should continue this week, after all, there seems to be no political attempt to safeguard the market from the curse of volatility.
Check out last week’s Market Glance here in which investors focused on the rising costs of labor.
