What a week! Between the FOMC meeting, the BoE meeting and a shed-load of earnings, there’s been a lot going on.
I’ve done my best to cover the most important/interesting companies, but if there’s anything you think I’ve missed off or would like me to include in the future, comment below.
Let’s take a look at what’s happened this week.
Key Events
US FOMC Meeting
On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve announced a 0.25% interest rate hike. This matched expectations and was no surprise to the market.
This puts the base rate (or Fed Funds Rate) at between 4.50% and 4.75%.
The press conference was much more positive than most expected, with the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, sounding very laid back and more confident than ever that inflation can be tackled without a severe recession. He stated that interest rate hikes are going to continue; at least until it has reached 4.75%-5.00% as previously announced. However, when asked whether or not a ‘pause’ was discussed at the meeting, he shrugged this off and suggested the market waited for the minutes to be released in ~3 weeks time.
He was also fairly nonchalant regards to the idea of cutting rates this year. Despite stating firmly that at current projections, interest rates will not fall until 2024, it was made clear that if data came in better than expected, a cut could occur this year. He essentially ruled it out, then said it could happen.
This was a very bullish session, leading the market to rally for two days, before coming down again on Friday following poor data regarding job openings.
The next FOMC meeting will conclude on 22nd March 2023.
UK Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Meeting
On Thursday, the Bank of England also announced another interest rate increase. This time, interest rates rose by 0.50%.
This brings the base rate up to 4.00%. Despite higher inflation in the UK, this rate is 0.50% lower than in the US as stated above. As such, it was hinted that another 0.50% increase will occur in the next meeting. However, this very much depends on data coming in.
The BoE also reiterated that they expect a recession in the UK for a “prolonged period”. This is on top of recent data suggesting that the UK will see negative growth in 2023, compared to positive growth for most of its peer countries in Europe, as well as the US.
The data looks dire for the UK at the moment, but hopefully we see a faster decline in inflation towards the end of the year than previously expected.
Stock Market News
Company Earnings Reports for W/E 5th February 2023
On Tuesday, I covered the earnings reports of the following 5 companies. Click here to find out what happened:
- SoFi Technologies (SOFI) – Q4 Earnings
- Snapchat (SNAP) – Q4 Earnings
- Pfizer (PFE) – Q4 Earnings
- AMD (AMD) – Q4 Earnings
- McDonald’s (MCD) – Q4 Earnings
On Wednesday, I covered the earnings reports of the following 3 companies. Click here to find out what happened:
- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – Q4 Earnings
- Facebook (META) – Q4 Earnings
- Sony Group (SONY) – Q4 (Fiscal Q3 2022) Earnings
On Thursday, I covered the earnings reports of the following 4 companies. Click here to find out what happened:
- Apple (AAPL) – Q4 (Fiscal Q1 2023) Earnings
- Alphabet (GOOGL/GOOG) – Q4 Earnings
- Amazon (AMZN) – Q4 Earnings
- Shell (SHEL) – Q4 Earnings
Next Week
Company Earnings Reports
Here’s a list of the companies I’ll be covering next week:
- Activision Blizzard (ATVI) – 6th February
- BP (BP) – 7th February
- Enphase Energy (ENPH) – 7th February
- The Walt Disney Company (DIS) – 8th February
- Affirm Holdings (AFRM) – 8th February
- Robinhood (HOOD) – 8th February
- AstraZeneca (AZN) – 9th February
- PepsiCo (PEP) – 9th February
- PayPal Holdings (PYPL) – 9th February
- Cloudflare (NET) – 9th February
Let me know your thoughts on this week’s events, in the comments below!
