The Fed’s January meeting is this week and all eyes will be on the central bank’s monetary statement and Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech .
The focus on the Fed won’t be the only big event that might brighten investor sentiment following a volatile week that saw stocks tumble, however.
The week also sees big Wall Street companies report results, including tech giants Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Apart from that, markets are also likely to react to geopolitical events around Russia and Ukraine.
Fed meeting this week
The Fed will hold its first of its meetings in 2022 on Tuesday and Wednesday. The FOMC meeting ends with a commentary on monetary policy and a press conference by Jerome Powell.
Rather than focusing on the rate hikes expected in March, investors will likely pay attention to the Fed’s rhetoric in light of rising inflation and the stock market rout of the past week.
Wednesday will also see the Bank of Canada issue an interest rate statement, which observers say is very likely. If the BOC chooses to raise rates, equities, as well as the Canadian dollar, might experience significant volatility.
Geopolitical tensions
Russia and Ukraine are not at war, but markets are likely to follow developments and headlines in the region. If last week’s talks between Russian and US diplomats bear fruit, the tension might dissipate a bit and see further steps aimed at cementing a deal.
According to Jeroen Blokland, founder and head of research at investment platform True Insights, investors should also pay attention to geopolitical risks, not just the Fed.
#Russia‘s stock market is down 13% in the last 7 trading days and 27% since late October. Reflecting growing tensions between Russia, #Ukraine, the US, and the Eurozone, which are the most tangible geopolitical risks impacting markets. It’s not just regarding the #Fed #geopolitics pic.twitter.com/fGYu3xOMYh
— jeroen blokland (@jsblokland) January 23, 2022
Revenues from Apple, Microsoft and Tesla
Shares of Netflix dropped last week following its quarterly results, with the previous week also seeing shares of JPMorgan and Citigroup slide.
Earnings season continues this week with expected blockbuster reports from leading tech companies. While earnings might fuel a rebound across sectors and in the market, any pullback from tech giants and other big names in the business might catalyze further declines.
On Monday, IBM (IBM) reports following market close.
Mardi, Microsoft (MSFT), General Electric (GE), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Verizon (VZ) et Invesco (IVZ) rapportent.
Tesla (TSLA) will report following the closing bell on Wednesday while Boeing (BA), Nasdaq Inc. (NDAQ), Intel (INTC) and Xilinx (XLNX) will also present their results on the day of the highly anticipated FOMC commentary.
Apple (AAPL), Robinhood (HOOD) and Visa (V) will be the highlights on Thursday, and on Friday we have Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Caterpillar (CAT) and VF Corp. (VFC).
