Beat the street: US retail sales data weighs on early rate-cut hopes; oil; Alibaba; volatility rises
US stocks index indicating a lower open after a hotter-than-expected rise in December retail sales hurt hopes of a March Fed rate cut. Volatility rises on geopolitics and easing rate cut hopes.
Alibaba, all-sessions, fall after China data showed the local economy's recovery appeared shakier than thought. Oil futures also weakened on the Chinese data and stronger dollar.
(AI Video Summary)
December retail sales numbers and Fed rate cuts
In today's edition of of "Beat the street," Angeline Ong gives us a sneak peek into the latest happenings on Wall Street. She starts off by talking about the retail sales numbers for December, which surprisingly showed a 0.6% increase compared to the previous month. This means that people were still actively shopping during the holiday season, which is great news for the economy.
To understand how the market is reacting to these retail sales numbers, Ong looks at the Dow Jones, the volatility index, and the dollar basket. She then crosses over to Chris Vecchio in New York, who analyses the retail sales numbers further. Vecchio points out that these figures are the strongest since September and are really important for calculating the country's GDP. He believes that this positive result will push the GDP report in the right direction and bring us closer to the Federal Reserve's growth target for 2023.
Vecchio also questions if the Federal Reserve needs to cut interest rates rapidly if the economy is performing well. He mentions that external factors like geopolitical issues in the Middle East and China's economic weakness can affect the markets, which the Fed can't control directly.
Company earnings reports, oil and USD
Moving on, Ong gives updates on the earnings reports of companies like US Bancorp, Charles Schwab, and Citizens Financial Group. She also mentions that Chinese firms listed in the US, like Alibaba, are seeing their shares fall due to concerns about China's economic recovery.
Ong then talks about the importance of oil prices due to the events happening in the Middle East, and highlights China's record-high GDP growth and refinery throughput.
To wrap it up, Ong notes that the US dollar is doing well, as expectations for rate cuts by the Federal Reserve ease. However, she warns that volatility is rising, and US stocks might see some declines after the strong retail sales numbers.
In the end, Ong encourages viewers to follow her on IG.com and Twitter for more trading insights.
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