Trinity Investments Limited – US Markets Close Last Week on Record Highs

HONG KONG - Sept. 23, 2018 - PRLog -- To cap the week, the S&P 500 fell less than 0.1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was the laggard, dropping 0.5%.

"School has been back in session for less than a month now, but the S&P 500 already had its first test of the semester and came out passing with flying colors," Trinity Investments said in an email on Friday.

"After breaking out to new highs at the end of August, the S&P 500 pulled back over the following few days and found support right at its prior highs from January. After holding that level, the S&P 500 has now traded higher on eight of the last ten trading days, rallying to higher highs. It doesn't get much more textbook than that!"

In the week ahead, the big event of the week for investors will be the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, set to begin Tuesday with a monetary policy statement slated for release at 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday. This will be followed by a press conference with Fed chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Investors widely expect the Fed to raise its benchmark interest rate target range by 25 basis points to a new band of 2%-2.25%, which would set the target Fed Funds rate at around 2.13%, the highest since April 2008.

"We believe the most notable change to the statement will be to drop the reference to policy being 'accommodative,' and to make no further assessment of whether policy is stimulative or restrictive," said Michael Feroli, an economist at JP Morgan. "We expect Powell will continue to play defense at the press conference, and to not push any strong views on the outlook."

In addition to the Fed's latest policy decision, the Fed will also release an updated summary of economic projections, which will include the first look at the Fed's economic forecasts for 2021.

Other notable economic data scheduled for release in the week ahead will include two readings on consumer confidence, the third look at second quarter GDP, and the Fed's preferred inflation measure.

In the week ahead, the corporate earnings calendar will remain subdued with results from Nike after the market close on Tuesday serving as the week's highlight. Expect the company to be asked on its earnings conference call about its latest ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick and reports that online sales for Nike products rose sharply after the ad was debuted on Labor Day.

Other members of the S&P 500 scheduled to report results include Cintas, Carnival Cruise, Accenture, McCormick, and Conagra.

As news of further trade war issues inflate between the US and China, Trinity Investments still sees opportunities in both the US and Chinese indexes.
To find out more, visit www.trinity-investments.com  or email us at info@trinity-investments.com and we will happily get back to you.