Wednesday’s session saw a willingness to buy Tuesday’s dip. It also saw a willingness to do some selling from higher levels reached after Tuesday’s dip was bought. In the end, though, the buy-the-dip trade prevailed and the major indices closed Wednesday’s session higher than where they started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The successful campaign was a broad market effort, supported by an absence of any newly hawkish-sounding commentary from Fed Chair Powell before the House Financial Services Committee in day one of his semiannual monetary policy testimony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Fed Chair effectively reiterated what he said at his press conference following the January 30-31 FOMC meeting. The Fed wants to see more data to gain confidence inflation is moving sustainably toward its 2% target and that it may be appropriate to cut rates later this year if the economy evolves as expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He returns to Congress today, appearing before the Senate Banking Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET for the final day of his testimony. His appearance on Capitol Hill is a precursor to the buzz of activity that will be seen in Congress tonight when President Biden delivers the State of the Union Address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A short time ago, the ECB delivered the news that it had decided to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged, as expected. In turn, staff projections featured a downward revision to inflation and growth forecasts, which will likely help feed expectations that the ECB could be inclined to cut rates later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Treasury market for its part has been cutting rates. The 2-yr note yield is at 4.52%, down ten basis points this month, and the 10-yr note yield is at 4.07%, down 18 basis points this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those moves have helped underpin the stock market’s continuing advance, which is set to continue at today’s open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are up 22 points and are trading 0.5% above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 107 points and are trading 0.6% above fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 100 points and are trading 0.3% above fair value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The requisite stock check shows NVIDIA (NVDA)<\/strong> up another 1.8% and trading over $900 per share. When the year began, NVIDIA was trading just under $500 per share. Its enduring strength has been integral to the market’s enduring bullish sentiment. Modest gains in other mega-cap stocks have helped prop up the futures market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also helping has been a round of economic data that was supportive of the soft landing\/no landing outlook that is integral for continued earnings growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n