It was quite a day of events yesterday, not least with the central bank bonanza in having the Bank of Canada and Federal Reserve policy decisions. In any case, both went pretty much straightforward with Fed chair Powell also not really offering much and markets are already looking ready to phase him out it seems. As such, the reactions to the central bank decisions were rather muted.
Instead, we had US Treasury secretary Bessent out with some notable remarks here and that was arguably much more impactful. Meanwhile, precious metals continued to be on the move and are at it again today with this report from Bloomberg raising some eyebrows. It seems that it isn’t just central banks that are buying up gold in sizable amounts.
As for key earnings releases after the close, big tech were in focus with three of the Magnificent 7 reporting:
At the balance, it is keeping tech shares slightly elevated with S&P 500 futures up 0.1% and Nasdaq futures up 0.3% currently.
Despite all that, there’s still much to play for before we look to wrap up the final trading week of January.
In terms of data releases, we still have the US weekly initial jobless claims today and then PPI data tomorrow.
And speaking about 30 January, do be reminded that we do have a deadline for the US government to avoid another shutdown drama. From earlier this week: Another shutdown looms large after Democrats pull support for government funding bill
That said, the latest news is that it could still be avoided with Trump and Schumer working towards a deal to exclude DHS funding from the overall funding package. So, there’s that at least.
Circling back to yesterday’s Fed decision, we didn’t hear from Trump on who he will be appointing to replace Powell as Fed chair. It would’ve been a timely opportunity for him to take a jab at the Fed at the same time but alas, it wasn’t to be. Instead, Bessent noted that we are likely to hear from Trump on his choice some time next week.
And in terms of key earnings releases, there are still a couple of big names to watch out for in the day ahead. Of note, Apple is the other big tech name set to report after the close today. Then, there’s also Visa and Mastercard also reporting on Thursday. Come tomorrow, we do have Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Amex, and Verizon on the earnings calendar.
Besides all of this, there will be continued focus on the US dollar selling, Japanese yen intervention risks, precious metals buying, and not to forget month-end flows/shenanigans that could creep in. On the final point, it typically catches on during the London fix but can also see some exacerbated and sudden flows at any time in the final day(s) before the month officially closes.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.