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The Federal Reserve will probably keep interest rates steady at its two-day meeting, which ends on Wednesday. But investors will be laser-focused on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s news conference for any fresh remarks about tariffs and the central bank’s future course.
“I don’t think Powell will be committal on anything” and will probably repeat the Fed will remain data dependent, said Jason DeLorenzo, whose Ad Deum Funds tracks options trading. “I expect a rally during the news conference, so long as Powell doesn’t say anything surprising, as hedges get unwound.”
That expectation could be upended if the Fed chair takes the opportunity to say something fresh and substantial or if President Donald Trump says something that unnerves investors.
Here’s what else investors will be watching.
Monday, March 17
U.S. retail sales may have rebounded in February, according to StreetAccount consensus estimates. Expectations are for a 0.7% rise in the headline tally from January, when they’d fallen 0.9%. Stripping out auto sales, the gain may be 0.5%, compared with a 0.4% decline. The numbers are due at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
More economic indicators: business inventories, homebuilder confidence index, Empire State manufacturing index
Tuesday, March 18
Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang gives the keynote address at his company’s AI conference in San Jose, California. Investors will be listening closely for any hints about future plans or demand for the company’s products. He’s due to start speaking at 10 a.m. PDT.
Economic indicators: housing starts, building permits, import and export price indexes, industrial production
Company earnings: Xpeng (XPEV), Tencent Music (TME)
Wednesday, March 19
The two-day Federal Reserve meeting ends, with the results to be released at 2 p.m. EDT, followed by Jerome Powell’s press conference at 2:30 p.m.
Company earnings: General Mills (GIS)
Thursday, March 20
Company earnings: Micron (MU), Nike (NKE), Darden Restaurants (DRI), FedEx (FDX), Accenture (ACN), PDD Holdings (PDD), Lennar (LEN), FactSet (FDS), Zeekr
Economic indicators: initial jobless claims, Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index, existing home sales, leading economic indicators, current account
Vernal equinox, the first day of Spring