April 11, 2022

Markets:

U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open Monday morning as investors looked ahead to the start of corporate earnings season this week and a bevy of new economic data as the Federal Reserve prepares to accelerate its moves to counter inflation.

Concerns over inflation, rising commodity prices amid Russia's war in Ukraine, and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy path forward remained at the center of investors' attention. On Tuesday, traders are set to receive the latest Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is expected to show a staggering 8.4% year-over-year increase in prices for the biggest leap since 1982. And this comes as Fed officials have increasingly talked of larger-than-average 50 basis-point interest rate hikes this year to help bring down prices. Last week, the Fed's March meeting minutes also showed the central bank was gearing up to begin rolling off assets from its $9 trillion balance sheet, in a further move removing financial market support and pivoting away from pandemic-era accommodative policies.

Meanwhile, the start of the latest quarterly corporate earnings season this week will help show how individual companies have navigated inflationary pressures and the specter of slowing economic growth. As of Friday, Wall Street analysts expected S&P 500 earnings to grow 4.5% for the first quarter over last year, according to FactSet data. If realized, this would mark the slowest rate since the fourth quarter of 2020.

Portfolio:

We enter the new trading week holding positions in RES, CLF, SCO, and itrm.  We might add a new opportunity today but want to watch price activity early on as well as volume this morning.  

This week we begin to receive earnings reports.  We are filled with excitement for the prospects of these reports and the insight they will provide.  This earnings season has the potential to be an absolute outstanding earnings season.  The bar is pretty low, especailly after last reports.  Opportunity could be massive.  Be on alert today and let's have a great session.  Stay patient here with this market.