US index futures are holding steady this morning heading into a big day for business news across a number for fronts.
Tonight, US President Biden is scheduled to outline a $1.8 Trillion “human infrastructure” plan of new spending and tax credits for lower and middle class families, combined with tax increases for wealthy individuals, corporations and more spending on tax collection.
This afternoon, the Fed’s latest monetary policy decision and statement are due at 2:00 pm EDT. In recent weeks, Fed Chair Powell and other FOMC members have been talking up the economy while indicating they plan to remain dovish on monetary policy and are comfortable with inflation rising above 2.0% in the near term to allow the economy to recover, a stance echoed by Bank of Canada Governor Macklem in testimony yesterday. It’s possible the Fed may do some tinkering around the edges on stimulus, such as how it ended a break on bank capital requirements after its last meeting, but otherwise, it would likely take a significant change in tone to surprise investors.
It’s another busy day for earnings, particularly from the Technology sector. Highlights include: Microsoft ($1.95 vs street $1.78), Alphabet ($26.29 vs street $15.82), Starbucks ($0.62 vs street $0.53), Visa ($1.38 vs street $1.27), and Garmin ($1.18 vs street $0.89). On the other hand, Boeing posted a worse than expected loss (-$1.53 vs street -$1.15), while Pinterest is down 11.9% premarket despite beating the street on earnings ($0.11 vs street $0.07) after the number of active users came in short of expectations (478M vs street 480.5M).
Companies reporting after the close today include: Apple, Facebook, Ford, and Qualcomm.
Canadian retail sales growth was very strong in February, increasing by 4.8% which was stronger than the 4.0% the street had expected and a big rebound from January’s 1.1% decline.
