Markets This Week, 9/18-9/22, 2023: Mixed Data

Economy and Markets: The Week Ahead

Stocks closed another volatile week in the red as mixed economic reports heightened market jitters ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy rate meeting next week. While retail sales exceeded expectations, a decline in consumer sentiment signaled a potential weakening in consumer spending in the future. Additionally, headline inflation sped up due to rising fuel prices.

The past week’s highlight was the Wall Street IPO of chip designer Arm Holdings (ARM), owned by the Japanese Softbank (SFTBY). This successful debut buoyed investor sentiment and ignited hopes that it might rejuvenate this year’s stagnant IPO activity, setting a positive precedent for other planned IPOs this year. On the downside, markets responded unfavorably to the initiation of the autoworkers’ strike after contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the three largest U.S. automakers fell through.

This week, all eyes will be on the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday. The central bank’s Board of Governors is widely anticipated to maintain its key policy rates, enacting another “hawkish pause”. However, if the data released leading up to the next meeting on October 31^st indicates persistent inflationary pressures, the Fed might resume its monetary tightening. Therefore, investors are encouraged to closely monitor the forthcoming data as it may offer insights into the central bank’s future decisions.

In this uncertain environment, investors are recommended to base their decisions on trustworthy data and analysis.

Upcoming Earnings and Dividend Announcements

The Q2 2023 reporting season has almost ended, but there are still companies reporting this week.

The most noteworthy earnings events this coming week are the reports of FedEx (FDX), Darden Restaurants (DRI), AutoZone (AZO), General Mills (GIS), and FactSet (FDS).

Companies’ reporting dates, consensus EPS forecasts, past data, analyst ratings, and price targets can be found on the TipRanks Earnings Calendar.

This week, Ex-Dividend dates are coming for the payouts of Amphenol (APH), STMicroelectronics (STM), Best Buy Co (BBY), Broadcom (AVGO), Omnicom Group (OMC), Medtronic (MDT), Flowserve (FLS), and other dividend-paying firms.

Companies’ Ex-Dividend and Dividend Payment dates, analyst ratings, and price targets can be found on the TipRanks Dividend Calendar.

Upcoming Economic Calendar Events

There are several important reports scheduled to be published in the next few days:

» August’s Building Permits and Housing Starts – Tuesday, 9/19 – These reports provide valuable insights into the health of the housing market, as well as the economy overall, since the housing demand correlates with economic growth and consumer sentiment. Both reports are leading indicators, used by economists and analysts, among other data, to measure current demand and to estimate near-term trends in real estate, as well as in the connected industries.

» September’s Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey – Thursday, 9/21 – This report, based on the survey performed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, measures the manufacturing conditions in the survey area (Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Delaware); it is considered to be an accurate leading indicator of the two nationwide reports, Manufacturing PMI and ISM Manufacturing indexes.  

» September’s S&P Global Manufacturing PMI and Services PMI (preliminary) – Friday, 9/22 – These reports measure business conditions in the manufacturing and services sectors, two main sectors of the U.S. economy, which directly affect economic growth. PMI indices are leading economic indicators used by economists and analysts to gain timely insights into changing economic conditions since the direction and rate of change in the PMIs usually precede changes in the overall economy.

Current and scheduled economic reports, Fed statements, and other releases, as well as their level of impact on stock markets, can be found on the TipRanks Economic Calendar.