Day Ahead: Top 3 Things to Watch for March 3
By Kim Khan
Investing.com - Stocks bounced back sharply Monday following last week’s plunge, with the major indexes boasting their biggest daily points gains ever.
Bond yields jumped in the last hour of stock market trading and oil settled up nearly 5%.
Much of the enthusiasm came in anticipation of moves by global central banks to lower rates and provide liquidity.
A conference call by the Group of Seven largest economies tomorrow will be carefully eyed, and there will be more Fed members speaking.
Retail earnings continue to come in as well, for those still keeping tabs on fundamentals.
Here are three things that could move the markets tomorrow.
1. Could G7’s Big Call Lead to Surprise Cuts?
Wall Street bet big on central bank stimulus to combat the economic damage caused by Covid-19.
And investors will be especially keen to see any headlines coming out of the Group of Seven teleconference Tuesday, where finance ministers and central bankers are expected to discuss potential action to stabilize the markets.
The call will start at 7 AM ET (1200 GMT) and will be led by Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, CNBC reported.
Mnuchin and White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow are backing the idea of an intermeeting emergency cut by the FOMC, Bloomberg first reported.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) Chief Economist Jan Hatzius said today he expects nine out of 10 major central banks to cut rates in and that it would make sense for the banks to make some kind of coordinated move to get even more bang for their rate-cut buck.
Meanwhile, the fed funds futures market is still pricing in a 100% chance of a half-point rate cut in March and a 75% chance for another quarter-point reduction in April.
2. Fed’s Mester, Evans to Speak
If the G7 doesn’t come through with a surprise move Tuesday, any Fed speakers are still going to be watched in hopes they’ll bolster hopes of anticipated cuts or give a slight hint of an emergency move.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester will be speaking in London tomorrow on the economic outlook and monetary policy at the Society of Professional Economists Annual Dinner.
Her remarks are expected at 2:50 PM ET (1950 GMT) and there will be questions.
At 6:30 PM ET, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will face a moderated Q&A session hosted by the University of Illinois.
3. Target on Tap for Earnings
Retailers remain the focus of earnings tomorrow, with discount chain Target (NYSE:TGT) reportiing before trading begins tomorrow.
Target is expected to report a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $1.65 per share on sales of about $23.4 billion, according to analysts forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
In January the company warned that its holiday same-store sales rose just 1.4% in November and December, shy of what Wall Street was expecting. It blamed weakness in key categories like electronics, toys and home products.
Shares fell sharply after the warning and had not recovered to the level before the announcement, even before the declines seen in the carnage of last week.
Department store chain Kohl's (NYSE:KSS) will also issue results before the bell.
Analysts are looking for earnings of $1.88 per share and sales of about $6.5 billion.
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