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Saturday, September 23, 2023

The Fed: Higher for longer and fewer rate cuts in 2024

Weekly Wrap Content for the week of Sep 22:

1. Week 38 major indexes performance;

2. Week 38 US sector indexes performance;

3. Major indexes weekly charts of support and resistance levels;

U.S.

For the week of 22 Sep, U.S three major indexes declined as investors reacted to hawkish forecasts from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting and rising U.S. Treasury yields. The S&P 500 Index recorded its largest one-day loss in six months on Thursday on its way to a third-straight losing week. Refer to major indexes’ weekly performance table below.

Key highlights for the week and outlook:

1.   Fed’s September meeting in the week: to keep rates elevated until inflation moves more convincingly toward 2.0%. The Fed held rates steady at 5.25% - 5.5% at this meeting but kept the option of an additional rate hike on the table, maintaining its outlook for a peak fed funds rate of 5.6%. The Fed's new set of projections also reduced the number of potential rate cuts in 2024, from 1.0% to 0.5% of cuts next year – implying that the elevated interest-rate environment may last longer than expected. 

2.    Treasury yields reacted to the somewhat hawkish fed outlook, moved sharply higher, as both the 2-year (which is more sensitive to moves in the fed funds rate) and 10-year yields moved to highs of this cycle, putting downward pressure on stock and bond returns. 

3.    Impact of the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) strike and the potential for a U.S government shutdown may have also weighted on markets. 

4.    Markets react swiftly: Yields move higher, and stocks move lower, particularly in the large-cap technology space and among the "Magnificent 7" (Magnificent 7 stocks include AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT, NVDA, TSLA). Investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence (AI) initially drove these stocks higher, but valuations now seem more stretched, and they face the challenge of a higher-rate environment.

SPX sectors in play

All the 11 sectors of the SPX index closed in the red for the week. Consumer Discretionary(XLY) and Financials(XLF) sectors were at the bottom of the table. Refer to below SPX sectors ETF weekly performance table.

Indexes technical levels

All three major indexes declined for the week. DJI closed at two-month low, Nasdaq at more than one-month low and the SPX dropped to more than three-month low. Click below three indexes for their weekly charts respectively in a new window.

DJI weekly chart

SPX weekly chart

Nasdaq weekly chart


China/HK

China stocks rose as investors grew more optimistic about the country’s economic outlook. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Index(SSE) gained 0.47% while the blue chip CSI 300 added 0.81%. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index(.HSI) declined 0.69%. (Refer to the above weekly performance table).  

Key highlights for the week and outlook for China/HK:

1.    No major indicators were released in China during the week. However, official data for August released the prior week provided evidence of economic stabilization in the country. 

2.    On Thursday, China's cabinet, the State Council, pledged to accelerate measures to consolidate the country’s recovery and continue supporting growth in 2024, state media reported. 

3.    In a sign of investors’ concern about the health of China’s economy, China recorded capital outflows of USD 49 billion in August, the largest since December 2015, which pushed the yuan to a 16-year low against the U.S. dollar, according to Bloomberg.

Technically, SSE Index closed marginally higher for 2nd consecutive week, just above 3090 technical support level. The index appears has been in five-week sideway consolidation range. Hang Seng index declined for third consecutive weekly loss, marginally, also within its five-week trading week. Click below title to view weekly charts.

SSE weekly chart

.HSI weekly chart

Singapore

STI index recorded its largest loss in five weeks, gave back all its previous week’s gain and ended at around 3200 technical support level. Five index stocks recorded positive return for the week: DFI +3.45%; Emperador +1.96%; JMH +1.01%; ST Engineering 1.25% and YZJ Ship +2.38%.  

STI weekly chart

Source: Some contents and data excerpted from various public market reports.

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