Wall Street week ahead: Investors’ focus on Federal Reserve’s rate decision

In the week ahead on Wall Street, the major focus of stock market investors will be on the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy meeting. The Fed rate decision will be released on September 20 and Chair Jerome Powell will address the press conference on the monetary policy.

The US central bank is expected to hold interest rates steady after a stronger-than- expected inflation data for August.

Since March 2022, the Federal Reserve had raised borrowing costs by 525 basis points.

Last month, Powell had said that the central bank may need to raise rates further to cool inflation.

During the week, economic reports including updates on housing starts (September 19), initial jobless claims (September 21),  US current account deficit (September 21), crude oil inventories, and the latest purchasing manager indexes for manufacturing and services will also be released.

In the week ahead, earnings reports of following companies are due – Stitch Fix, AutoZone, Steelcase, Apogee Enterprises, FedEx, General Mills, KB Home, Darden Restaurants, and FactSet Research.

Corporate events

Oracle to hold its four-day CloudWorld event in Las Vegas. 

Microsoft to hold an event in New York City that would feature details on new hardware products and an update on the latest AI innovations.

Amazon to hold a Devices and Service Event.

Bank of England, Bank of Japan, the central banks of Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are also due to release their monetary policy decisions next week.

On Friday, the US stocks closed sharply lower.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.22% to end at 4,450.32 points. The Nasdaq declined 1.56% at 13,708.34 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.83% at 34,618.24 points.

The US dollar rose at 147.86 Japanese yen on Friday from 147.45. It gained at $1.0661 from $1.0635 against the euro.

The yield on the 10-year treasury rose at 4.33% on Friday from 4.29% late Thursday. The yield on the 2-year treasury was steady at 5.02%.