May 17, 2023

Markets:

Stock futures rose Wednesday as investors awaited news of developments in the negotiations between congressional leaders and President Joe Biden on the U.S. debt ceiling.

The White House said Tuesday that Biden has directed staff to meet daily on outstanding issues. The president also canceled the second leg of an upcoming international trip given the negotiations, the White House said. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that a “better process” is now in place for further talks. He also said that it’s “possible to get a deal by the end of the week.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated her warning that the government needs to raise the limit immediately as the country faces the possibility of defaulting as early as June 1.

In addition to tracking any updates on debt ceiling negotiations, investors will watch for data on housing starts and building permits on Wednesday.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.2% at the start of the session, with most sectors and major bourses trading in negative territory. Financial services made the biggest losses, down 1.3%, followed by autos, which dropped 0.9%. Health care modestly bucked the trend with a 0.1% uptick.

Portfolio:

We enter todays session holding set-ups in S, TQQQ, and IONQ. Another nice day yesterday and we continue to navigate this market and current range well. Would absolutely love to see us break out of this range and truly bring on the pain trade. It could be a monster window of opportunity once this occurs. I know we've been discussing this scenario for months and it continues to base / develop. Would love to see the price activity at these levels and the force it would cause with short sellers needing to cover, especially above 4350 on the S&P. We can only hope. Regardless, queue continues to ignite and we are anticipating new opportunities today. Be ready!