September 19, 2023

Markets:

Stock futures traded near flat on Tuesday as Wall Street readied for the start of the Federal Reserve’s two-day September policy meeting.

The three major indexes finished Monday’s session little changed as investors readied for the Federal Reserve meeting that begins Tuesday.

The Fed is not expected to raise rates this week, with traders pricing in a 99% probability that the central bank skips a hike, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, a gauge of pricing in fed funds futures. Traders are putting just a 29% chance of a hike in November as of early Tuesday.

Wall Street will parse through a light batch of economic data Tuesday, with preliminary building permits for August and housing starts due out before the bell. AutoZone is slated to report earnings before the bell.

Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood reiterated her massively bullish call on her EV darling Tesla, seeing it hitting $2,000 in five years driven largely by a robotaxi boom.

Portfolio:

We enter the new trading session holding set-ups in DKNG, RIG, ATEN, and WW.  Muted session yesterday as expected and today we see the same type of price activity.  Traders patiently are waiting for the Fed rate decision tomorrow afternoon.  The last 30 days or so, 4500 on the S&P has been its basing point.  A close back above 4520 would be extremely bullish and the bears would need to push this back below 4350 to see any true life.  Right now, the trend remains and continues to build here.  This basing action is super positive, regardless of what the headlines love to print and the fear some try to ignite.  Queue remains active still but we do expect activity to really jump once we receive the minutes tomorrow and we see volume come in.  Stay patient here.  We'll continue to look for monster set-ups. This is all about positioning ourselves for the following 4 weeks or so and the moves to come. Let's have a great session.