DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Morning Bid: Blue chips cheered up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] The logo of technology company Nvidia is seen at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California February 11, 2015. Its CEO Jensen Huang said use of its chips to power AI had "gone through the roof in the last 60 days." The Federal Reserve at least seems keen on the higher-for-longer message that's shaken world stock and bond markets this week. And as the minutes pre-date red-hot jobs and retail data for January, the message from Fed officials is probably even sterner now. A Reuters poll of equity analysts showed global stock markets are expected to correct in the next three months.

☆ Wall St set for higher open as Nvidia outweighs Fed jitters
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Johann M Cherian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Futures cut some gains after data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week. "Markets are tracking the earnings reports overnight from Nvidia," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. ET, Dow e-minis were up 39 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 15 points, or 0.38%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 106.25 points, or 0.88%. Analysts polled by Reuters predict a correction within the next three months even though they expect the S&P 500 (.SPX) to climb 5% by year-end. Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) fell 4.4% after the vaccine maker reaffirmed its annual sales forecast of $5 billion for its COVID-19 vaccines despite its fourth-quarter sales exceeding estimates.

☆ Another Stock Market Crash Coming, Wall Street's Top Investors Warn
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

This elation has lulled Wall Street into a false sense of security, according to the investing world's elite who I've spoken with over the past few weeks. It's like all the good little boys and girls on Wall Street asked for a rally for Christmas and got it. He added that nonprofessional retail investors' strong return to the market indicated an unsustainable rally. Anytime Wall Street has forgotten that over the past year, it has gotten punished. And that means Wall Street will eventually have to open its eyes, take its fingers out of its ears, and watch this bear-market rally fall apart.

☆ Stock futures rise on Wednesday evening: Live updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

S&P 500 futures gained 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 0.6%. Nasdaq futures got a boost from Nvidia, which rose more than 8% after hours on better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings and revenue. Inflation "remained well above" the Fed's 2% target and the labor market "remained very tight, contributing to continuing upward pressures on wages and prices," according to the minutes. Additionally, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will speak at an event hosted by the Atlanta Fed Thursday morning. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will take part in a fireside chat in the afternoon.

☆ Morning Bid: Powell confesses 'This time it's different'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Any fear of a radical Fed rethink on the back of the jobs numbers seemed wide of the mark. "This cycle is different from other cycles...it has just confounded all sorts of attempts to predict," Powell admitted. And many think last week's jobs report should similarly be treated with care. They included a minimum tax for billionaires and a quadrupling of the tax on corporate stock buybacks. Brands, Eaton Corp, etcUS terminal rateReuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsBy Mike Dolan, Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky <a href="mailto:mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com" target="_blank">mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com</a>.

"We didn't expect it to be this strong," Powell said, but it "shows why we think this will be a process that takes quite a bit of time." It has just confounded all sorts of attempts to predict," Powell said, noting that wage growth has slowed even with continued strong job gains. Officials raised the target interest rate a quarter point to a range between 4.5% and 4.75% at that session, and said in the latest policy statement that "ongoing increases" would be needed. 1 2 3 4 5As of December, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation was increasing at a 5% annual rate, still more than double the Fed's target. While Powell said he expected "significant declines in inflation" this year, the U.S. economy was still "in the beginning of getting that down."

"It tells me that so far, we're not seeing much of an imprint ... on the labor market," Kashkari said. Bond yields have rocketed higher and interest rate futures markets now are squarely priced for a federal funds rate reaching at least 5.1%. LABOR MARKET CONCERNSOn Monday, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic was one of those who said the central bank may need to lift borrowing costs higher than previously anticipated given the job gains. "We've seen no progress so far, virtually no progress in core services ex housing, and that's very tied to the labor market." Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Chizu Nomiyama, Andrea Ricci and Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fed's Kashkari sticks to 5.4% rate hike view after 'surprising' jobs report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Lindsay Dunsmuir | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"I think it surprised all of us," Kashkari said in an interview with broadcaster CNBC, referring to a blowout January jobs report in which more than half a million employment gains were reported by the U.S. government. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak later on Tuesday at 1240 EST (1740 GMT). Last week the U.S. central bank increased its benchmark overnight lending rate by a quarter-of-a-percentage-point to 4.5%-4.75%. Powell reiterated expectations that the Fed was eyeing a pause in the 5%-to-5.25% range as sufficiently restrictive in its fight against high inflation. January's jobs report, however, upended investor expectations after the U.S. economy added far more jobs than expected and the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, the lowest reading since 1969.

☆ Morning Bid: Powell's state of the union
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Jerome Powell makes his first speech since the Fed's latest quarter-point interest rate rise last week. More importantly, it's his first chance to comment on Friday's seemingly blockbuster U.S. employment report for January. Perhaps just as significantly, they now price year-end Fed rates higher than the 4.5-4.75% range they are at right now. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic on Monday said of the jobs readout: "It'll probably mean we have to do a little more work." Investors will watch Biden's State of the Union with one eye on the potentially destabilising debt ceiling standoff with Congress.

Government bonds, which typically perform well when there is a dash for safe havens, sold off under intense pressure. The dollar rose to an almost one-month high of 132.85 yen while the euro fell 0.64% to $1.0726. Chinese equities fell on Monday, while the offshore yuan touched a one-month low against the dollar. European Central Bank and Bank of England policymakers will also be making appearances. Gold edged higher, with investors banking on the precious metal's safe-haven appeal as concerns about an economic slowdown linger.

☆ Fed may need to push rates higher, Bostic tells Bloomberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve may need to lift borrowing costs higher than previously anticipated given the unexpectedly strong reading on jobs gains in January, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said on Monday. Unless the report proves to be anomalous, “It’ll probably mean we have to do a little more work,” Bostic told Bloomberg News. “And I would expect that that would translate into us raising interest rates more than I have projected right now.”The Fed could also consider raising the rate by half-a-percentage-point, he told Bloomberg News, though that is not his base case. Bostic had previously said he expects the Fed to need to push its benchmark rate, now in the 4.5%-to-4.75% range, to the 5%-to-5.25% range in order to get policy sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation back down to the Fed's 2% target. Reporting by Ann Saphir in Berkeley, Calif.; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Morning Bid: Japan hesitates
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Judging by Wednesday's reaction, world markets reckon Japan will eventually abandon its ultra-loose monetary policy despite a stubborn doubling down this week - and overseas ructions may be less than feared. But after some wild gyrations on the initial announcement, the market reaction was rather muted on balance. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) ended 2.5% higher, but it closed before the yen rebound in European hours. The release of December U.S. producer price, retail sales and industrial production numbers later on Wednesday now takes centre stage. U.S. Treasury auctions 20-year bonds* Bank of Japan policy decision.

☆ Treasury yields fall as traders assess data, Fed outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.S. Treasury yields were lower on Wednesday as uncertainty around the outlook for monetary policy and the economy, along with some weak earnings reports from Wall Street, clouded risk sentiment. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell just over 5 percentage points to 3.4812% while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond shed around 4 percentage points to 3.6069%. Stocks sold off on Tuesday and futures pointed to further declines on Wall Street after Goldman Sachs missed earnings expectations on the back of a drop in investment banking and asset management revenues. Four Federal Reserve officials are set to deliver speeches Wednesday: Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan. Auctions will be held Wednesday for $36 billion of 17-week Treasury bills and $12 billion of 20-year bonds.

☆ Wall Street 2023 Predictions Already Wrong: Recession, Inflation, China
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Across Wall Street, finance workers of all stripes are returning to work after skiing, gallivanting around the Caribbean, or just visiting Mom for the holiday season. Of course, there's some uncertainty in all this, and Wall Street could still be proved right. Already some Wall Street economists are revising their predictions given the strong economy, even if they're not backing off their priors quite yet. It may take years to get the Chinese consumer, on which Wall Street has placed so many hopes, back to the strength of yesteryear. Don't hatchet your chickens before they countTo be fair, not every Wall Street analyst is looking sheepish right now.

☆ There'll be a rude awakening for investors who haven't realized the Fed's got a whole new playbook, says BlackRock iShares strategist
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

There's likely to be further pain ahead for US stocks, a BlackRock iShares strategist told Insider. Karim Chedid expects the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates above 5% for the whole of 2023. "Goldilocks doesn't save the day in our new playbook," he said, given the Fed is focused on inflation. "Goldilocks doesn't save the day in our new playbook," Chedid said. That reflects a new environment where the Fed's only priority is taming inflation, according to Chedid.

☆ Corporate profit reports in the week ahead could show whether there's an 'earnings recession'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Investors in the week ahead will focus on how much inflation and the slowing economy have chiseled away at corporate profits, as companies including Goldman Sachs , Netflix and Procter & Gamble report earnings. "This is going to be the start of the clock ticking on an earnings recession," said Amanda Agati, chief investment officer of PNC Asset Management Group. Economic recession talk heats up "There's never been a recession without an earnings recession since World War II," Agati said. Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Financial, said this coming earnings week could be an important step towards assessing the health of corporate balance sheets. Week ahead calendar Monday Martin Luther King Jr. Day Markets closed Tuesday Earnings: Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley , Citizens Financial, United Airlines, Interactive Brokers 8:30 a.m.

☆ Gold set for weekly gain on smaller U.S. rate-hike bets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Ashitha Shivaprasad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Spot gold was up 0.1% at $1,898.57 per ounce, as of 0234 GMT. But we see gold continuing to rise despite cooling inflation because the market is looking at a lower dollar and smaller interest rate hikes," said Edward Meir, metals analyst, Marex. Gold is seen as an inflation hedge, but higher interest rates increase the opportunity cost of holding the asset. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank president Raphael Bostic said the inflation data may allow the Fed to scale back to quarter-point rate hikes at its upcoming meeting. Spot silver edged 0.1% higher to $23.79, platinum gained 0.1% to $1,068.79 while palladium slipped 0.6% to $1,780.91.

☆ Fed policymakers signal rate-hike slowdown coming, but no easing
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Ann Saphir | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"It is encouraging that we got some information today that went in the right direction," St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said at an event organized by the Wisconsin Bankers Association. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration 1 2'STEER MORE DELIBERATELY'Speaking earlier on Thursday to a business group in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said he believes quarter-percentage-point rate hikes are indeed now appropriate. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said on Thursday that inflation over the last three months has gone in the "right direction" and allows the Fed to "steer more deliberately" in its battle against price pressures. The Fed ultimately pushed borrowing costs, and the U.S. unemployment rate, into double-digit territory during that period before stopping the upward spiraling of prices. Fed policymakers say they do not expect the unemployment rate, currently 3.5%, to rise much more than a percentage point in the course of the current inflation fight.

Reuters GraphicsThe U.S. central bank is already adjusting to one unanticipated set of changes - an outbreak of inflation coupled with stalled growth in the U.S. labor force. "You have to identify the regime change ... Then you have to understand the transition dynamics ... and have a clear vision and insight into all of those ... "Markets calibrated to ... Chinese growth and low interest rates may prove fragile." Like recessions, which are typically identified only well after they have started, other economic turning points aren't always apparent in the moment. But as evidence of that accumulated following the 2007-2009 recession, it was only embodied into Fed policy in 2020 under a new approach that leaned against premature interest rate increases.

☆ HSBC expects Fed's final rate hike on Feb. 1, cuts next year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The bank also expects about 50 basis points in rate cuts from the U.S. central bank next year. The peak fed funds rate is seen hitting just under 5% at the June policy meeting. The Fed last year raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by 425 basis points from the near-zero level to the current 4.25%-4.50% range, the highest since late 2007. Last month, it projected at least an additional 75 basis points of increases in borrowing costs by the end of this year. In the research report, HSBC also said it anticipates the European Central Bank will deliver 50-basis-point rate increases in February and March, taking the deposit rate to 3% where it is expected to stay for the foreseeable future.

☆ Markets don't believe the Fed when it comes to where rates are headed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

No matter how many times Federal Reserve officials say they're raising interest rates and keeping them there, the markets don't want to believe them. Recent comments from Fed presidents have tried, and failed, to nudge the market's view towards the [Federal Open Market Committee's] guidance." Traders are pricing in nearly an 80% probability that the FOMC approves a 0.25 percentage point rate increase when it releases its post-meeting decision Feb. 1, according to CME Group data . Doubts about the 'terminal rate' Markets, though, aren't buying it. The futures market also is indicating the likelihood of cuts of as much as half a percentage point by year-end.

[1/3] A trader works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 5, 2023. The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) is expected to show December's headline inflation at 6.5% versus 7.1% in November. "Inflation and what the Fed's response to it is still remains the number one focus and anxiety for the market," said Manulife's Theoret. "The risk going into Thursday is really that the market is more vulnerable to an upside surprise in inflation. U.S. crude settled up 0.66% at $75.12 per barrel and Brent finished at $80.10, up 0.56% on the day.

The euro edged up 0.01% against the greenback to $1.0733 at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT), just below its seven-month high of $1.07605 hit Monday. Investors now expect rates to peak just under 5% by June, before starting to come down later in the year. The pause in the dollar's decline comes as traders ready themselves for U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation data on Thursday. The China-sensitive Australian dollar spiked at a more than four-month peak of $0.6950 in the previous session. The offshore yuan last traded at 6.7878 per dollar, after hitting its strongest in five months of 6.7590 earlier in the session.

☆ Dollar stabilises near seven-month lows
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Alun John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The euro was at $1.0736, little changed on the day, trading just below its seven-month high of 1.07605 hit Monday. The China-sensitive Australian dollar spiked at a more than four-month peak of $0.6950 in the previous session. The offshore yuan last traded at 6.7889 per dollar, after hitting its strongest in five months of 6.7590 earlier in the session. The dollar also steadied against the yen trading up 0.2% at 132.2 yen. The Japanese currency has been broadly strengthening after the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) surprise tweak to its yield curve policy late last year.

☆ Futures edge lower ahead of Powell's speech
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The highly awaited U.S. Labor Department's inflation report on Thursday is expected to show some moderation in year-on-year consumer prices in December. Money market bets pointed to a 77% chance of a 25-bps hike to 4.50%-4.75% in the Fed's upcoming policy meeting, with the terminal rate seen slightly below 5% by June. This is in contrast to the 5%-5.25% peak policy rate expected by San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Atlanta President Raphael Bostic. Along with economic data and comments from Fed officials, investors are also awaiting corporate earnings reports, with big U.S. banks expected to report lower fourth-quarter profits this week. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (BBBY.O) was up 4.9% in premarket trading, ahead of its quarterly earnings report due later in the day.

Search resuls for: "Raphael Bostic"

25 mentions found