The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the US Federal Reserve is set to hold its first meeting of 2023 on Tuesday, January 31st. During the two-day meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to give a press conference and announce a quarter-percentage point increase in interest rates, along with information about inflation and US GDP.
The 12-member FOMC is expected to slow down the pace of interest rate hikes, as seen in the December Monetary Policy where the US central bank raised rates by 50 basis points to reach a range of 4.25-4.50%.
During that policy meeting, Powell indicated that the Fed may consider raising interest rates by 75 basis points throughout 2023. This quarter-point increase would bring the interest rate range to 4.50-4.75%.
Stay updated on the latest developments and news leading up to the important events by following our live updates.
Indian market movement
Tue, January 31, 2023, 16:52 PM
On Tuesday, Indian stock indices traded cautiously ahead of the upcoming Budget 2023 and the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
The S&P BSE Sensex fluctuated within a 680-point range, while the broader NSE Nifty50 traded within a 200-point range. The Sensex ended at 59,549.90, a slight increase of 50 points or 0.08%, while the Nifty50 finished at 17,662.15, with a slight rise of 13.20 points or 0.07%. The banking index Nifty Bank saw a significant increase, finishing at 40,655.05, up 267.60 points or 0.66% from the previous day’s close.
Lay off by big tech giants in US
Tue, January 31, 2023, 16:40 PM
According to a report by Morgan Stanley, the reality is that earnings are worse than expected, particularly with regards to margins. The US government will also release its latest employment report later in the week, showcasing the state of the job market. Despite some high-profile layoffs by tech companies and others, such as Hasbro and 3M, hiring has remained strong across the economy.
Economists predict that the report will show that US employers added 187,500 jobs in January, a slowdown from December’s hiring of 223,000. The yield on the 10-year Treasury has increased to 3.53% from 3.51% while the two-year yield, which is more influenced by Fed actions, rose to 4.27% from 4.20%.
Wall street quarterly result updates
Tue, January 31, 2023, 14:20 PM
This week, over 100 companies in the S&P 500 are set to announce their Q4 2022 earnings, including tech giants Apple, Amazon, and Google’s parent company.
These three companies, among the four largest on Wall Street by market value, have a significant impact on the S&P 500. The fourth, Microsoft, caused concern last week by forecasting lower-than-expected results and raising doubts about a potential slowdown in tech spending.
A report from BofA Global Research suggests that these companies are likely to report weaker profits than anticipated, indicating that the recent positive performance of the S&P 500 is driven more by market sentiment than actual improvements in fundamentals.