August 25, 2023

Markets:

U.S. stock futures rose Friday as Wall Street looked toward Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech.

The Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming brings together central bankers and key financial officials from across the world. During last year’s gathering, stocks fell following Powell’s hawkish speech. The chair used the forum to warn of “some pain” ahead in the battle against inflation.

The strategist believes any market volatility resulting from Powell’s comments, which begin Friday at 10:05 am ET, will be short-lived.

Wall Street is coming off a downbeat session, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq failing to hold an early rally sparked by strong Nvidia earnings. Both benchmarks had their biggest one-day losses since Aug. 2, while the Dow suffered its biggest pullback since March.

Despite Thursday’s declines, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are holding on to weekly gains of 0.2% and 1.3%, respectively. If the two averages manage end the week in the green, they would break a 3-week losing streak.

Portfolio:

Violent session yesterday but even after all of that, Nas and S&P still positive for the week. It's all about the Fed today and just remember volume still remains light and algo's are in complete control. Yesterday was very systematic, not unhinged at all. We could retest recent lows and then snap back once again. Force folks into panic buying. Could see this scenario easily playing out into the Fall. Crazy to think we had about 5 outside reversals so far this month. Cannot express how insane that is and why August has clearly been the hardest month for traders in years. It's almost over and Labor Day weekend is fast approaching. This will change the narrative and volume quickly!

We enter the last session of the week holding setups in IOT, AEHR, COUR, NNDM, and CVE. We will remain patient here and watch price activity closely with the Fed on tap around 10am this morning. Be ready.