Wall Street week ahead: All eyes on Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision

In the week ahead on Wall Street all eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting.

After inflation data released last week showed that the consumer prices in the US rose in February, the Fed policymakers are widely expected to keep interest rate unchanged.

The FOMC’s (Federal Open Market Committee) interest rate decision is slated to be released on March 20, followed by

Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.

In other US economic reports, data on the S&P flash US services PMI and the S&P flash US manufacturing PMI for March, and existing home sales numbers for February will be released on March 21.

Earnings

Following companies are due to report quarterly earnings in the week ahead— StoneCo, Comtech, Science Applications, Tencent Music, Caleres, Citi Trends, Core & Main, Micron Technology, Signet Jewelers, General Mills, Five Below, Nike, FedEx, Accenture, Lululemon, and Darden Restaurants. 

US markets last week

On Friday, US stocks fell as investors weighed the interest rate outlook ahead of the Fed meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.89 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 38,714.77. The S&P 500 lost 33.39 points, or 0.65 per cent, at 5,117.09 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 155.36 points, or 0.96 per cent, to 15,973.17.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.31 per cent from 4.29 per cent late on Thursday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury rose 4.73 per cent from 4.69 per cent.

The US dollar rose to 149.04 yen from 148.31 Japanese yen. The euro gained to $1.

The US crude oil benchmark for April delivery fell 22 cents to $81.04 per barrel on Friday. Brent crude for May delivery declined 8 cents to $85.34 per barrel.

Gold for April delivery dropped $6 to $2,161.50 per ounce. Silver for May delivery rose 32 cents to $25.38 per ounce.

In overseas markets, European stocks were mixed, while Asia markets slipped.