Fed Speakers, Data to Take Over as Earnings Slow to Trickle

Hawkish sentiment expected from Federal Reserve members

by Wallace Witkowski
Market Watch

Broader economic forces, and the Federal Reserve members who are watching that data, will once again dominate Wall Street as the chapter on first-quarter earnings closes and attention on a possible June rate hike is firmly fixed.

Stocks tumbled Thursday on fears of a June rate hike from the Fed, but closed higher Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.2% for the week for a fourth consecutive week of losses, but the S&P 500 index snapped a three-week losing streak to close 0.3% higher. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 1.1% for the week to snap a four-week streak of losses.

With earnings season all but over, investors will turn their full attention to economic data and how Fed members are parsing that data in their decision to raise rates.

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