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  • Dec 18, 2024

Morning Bid: Markets edgy as Fed awaited

For all the extreme bullishness about 2025, Wall Street is just a bit edgy as the Federal Reserve looks set to deliver its final interest rate of 2024 and give a glimpse into next year. Remarkably, the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 9-day losing streak is the longest negative run since 1978 - but the index is still just under 4% from record highs set earlier this month. As Treasury yields have backed up sharply again over the past fortnight - even as the latest U.S. industrial production and retail sales excluding autos missed forecasts for last month - the yearend is looking more anxious than ebullient new year forecasts suggest.

  • Dec 18, 2024

Powell has a long to-do list for his last full year as Fed chief

The Federal Reserve will conclude its final meeting of 2024 on Wednesday, and next year will likely be Fed Chair Jerome Powell's last full one at the helm of the U.S. central bank, with his four-year term due to expire in May of 2026. Powell's more than six years as Fed chief have been consequential, but the coming months could present new challenges as well as an opportunity to close out some unfinished business. Powell's main mission is "completing the 'soft landing' with inflation at 2% and full employment, in what's likely to be trickier weather" with tax, tariff and immigration policies that could make the economic landscape harder to read, said Donald Kohn, a former Fed vice chair who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

  • Dec 18, 2024

Fed looks set to tweak reverse repo rate to speed exit of cash

The Federal Reserve appears likely to take a step on Wednesday to nudge cash off its balance sheet as it enters a more uncertain period in what many see as the final months in its effort to draw down its balance sheet. Economists broadly expect the Fed to announce it's cutting the rate it pays money market funds and others to park cash at its overnight reverse repo facility, or ONRRP, by a bigger margin than the expected cut to its policy rate. While the federal funds rate target is seen being trimmed by a quarter-percentage-point to between 4.25% and 4.50%, the reverse repo rate, or RRP, is seen falling to 4.25% from its current setting of 4.55%.

  • Dec 18, 2024

‘This Is a Great Buying Point,’ Says Analyst About These 2 ‘Strong Buy’ Software Stocks

A few years ago, the cloud transformed how companies use software. The shift moved users from purchasing licenses to subscribing to services, giving rise to the cloud-based software-as-a-service model. Now, we’re witnessing another major shift in the software landscape — the rise of generative AI technology. It’s making waves, and it remains to be seen exactly how they’ll crash ashore. One thing has become clear – the changes in the software industry are creating opportunities for investors. Cov

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