Stocks Near Record Highs as Investors Eye Fed Minutes & Manufacturing Data
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) hit a record high last week as inflation data hinted at possible Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
🔹 Weekly Market Performance:
✔ Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC): +2.5%
✔ S&P 500 (^GSPC): +1.5%
✔ Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI): +0.5%
🔹 Key Events to Watch This Week
💰 Earnings Reports: Major releases from Walmart (WMT), Alibaba (BABA), and Carvana (CVNA) will take center stage, along with results from 46 S&P 500 companies in a holiday-shortened week (markets closed Monday for Presidents’ Day).
📊 Federal Reserve Minutes (Wednesday, 2 p.m. ET): Investors will be analyzing the Fed’s January meeting minutes for hints on future interest rate moves.
🏠 Housing & Economic Data: Key reports include housing starts, mortgage applications, jobless claims, and consumer sentiment data.
🔹 Inflation & Rate Cut Outlook
Despite higher-than-expected CPI and PPI readings for January, economists predict that the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge (PCE) will show a decline to 2.6% (from 2.8% in December). Markets remain confident in one or two Fed rate cuts this year.
🔸 Morgan Stanley’s Michael Gapen: “The bar for Fed hikes remains high. The distribution of policy outcomes still leans toward rate cuts.”
🔹 AI & Broader Market Rally
✅ More stocks are driving the S&P 500’s gains, not just tech giants like Meta (META) and Amazon (AMZN).
✅ AI stocks surge: Palantir (PLTR) +55% YTD, Super Micro Computer (SMCI) +50%.
✅ Nvidia’s (NVDA) investment moves impact smaller AI players.
📆 With Fed minutes, corporate earnings, and economic updates ahead, will the market continue its record-setting run? 🚀
