Traders Need Fed’s Rate-Cut Signal to Keep Stocks Rallying
- Powell tone, more than words, is key to maintaining sentiment
- Options market is pricing over 1% swing in S&P 500 on Friday
Visitors take photos of the Grand Teton National Park mountain range from Jackson Lake Lodge in Moran, Wyoming.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Wall Street is betting that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will confirm that interest-rate cuts are coming at the central bank’s annual confab in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. But as the debate shifts from “will they or won’t they?” to “how big will they go?” — stock traders may be left wanting.
“If traders hear cuts are coming, stocks will react favorably,” said Eric Beiley, executive managing director of wealth management at Steward Partners Global Advisory. “If we don’t hear what we want, that would trigger a big selloff.”