Investors expect higher rates for longer
- 23 February 2023
- Posted by: Federica Montella
- Categories: eToro CopyTrader, Investing
US stocks were almost flat on Wednesday
Yesterday, only the Nasdaq registered a small profit, while the other two indexes registered losses.
The S&P 500 finished at -0.16%, the Nasdaq ended the trading session at +0.13% and the Dow Jones closed at -0.26%.
That was Wall Street’s scenario after the release of the Federal Reserve meeting minutes.
The investors’ sentiment remains bullish as indicated in the graph below:
Sentiment indicator – Fear & Greed Index
The market sentiment is 62, in “Greed” mode.
Fed’s meeting minutes
The Federal Reserve meeting minutes of February have been published yesterday.
The report has shown that almost all the Fed’s members have voted for a 0.25% interest rate hike, with only a few in a favour of 50 basis points rate increase.
All of them, however, have agreed that is necessary to keep hiking the interest rate to bring down the inflation to its 2% target.
The recent economic data, which have shown a robust labour market and better than expected retail sales data, were not taken into consideration during the last gathering in February.
For this reason, most investors believe that the Federal Reserve will be more aggressive and will increase rates higher and for a longer period than previously predicted, to fight inflation.
What to watch today
The US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the last quarter of 2022 is going to be published today at 13:30 GMT.
At the same time, the weekly US Initial Jobless claims will also be released, which is forecasted to be at 200K.
Both data are important to understand the health of the US economy.
Financial markets can be impacted, so there may be volatility.
Portfolio update
I am currently neutral and cautious about the stock market.
I hold long and short stock positions and aim to profit regardless of the market direction.
If you are already copying my portfolio, please keep the copy open.
If you are thinking of copying me, now could be the right time, if you can invest for the long term (years).
Remember to copy the open trades to optimize the copy.
Remember to set the stop loss on the copy at the minimum level, so you don’t get stopped if there is a correction.
Thank you, everyone. Have a nice day!
Steps to follow to copy my portfolio automatically:
1. Create an eToro account here: https://federicamontella.com/go/etoro/
2. Verify your account and make a deposit of at least 200 USD (you can deposit in any currency, like GBP and EUR)
3. Go to my profile page: https://federicamontella.com/go/etoro-passionforprofit/
4. Start the copy (copy open trades and set the lowest stop loss possible, to allow some movement)
5. Enjoy, it’s all automatic. You will make passive income 24/7
Let me know if you have any questions.
Federica Montella
eToro Popular Investor
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