Fed Takes Center Stage This Afternoon

Plus New Zacks Strong Buys for Wednesday, July 31

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Fed Takes Center Stage This Afternoon The major indexes were mostly lower yesterday, but the small-cap Russell 2000 Index surged 1.06%. Traders are all but certain a rate cut is coming this afternoon. Of course, nothing is done until it's done. But the only real question seems to be whether we'll get a quarter point rate cut, or a half point rate cut. At the moment, there's an 81% chance of a quarter point cut, and a 19% chance of a half point cut. The Fed will make their announcement at 2:00 PM ET, followed by a press conference by Fed Chair, Jerome Powell at 2:30. In other news yesterday, retail sales via the Redbook report showed y/y same store sales up 4.5%. That's down a tad from last week's snapshot of 4.9%. But analysts were quick to note these were 'strong results.' Pending Home Sales rose 2.8% last month vs. the previous month's 1.1% gain, and views for just 0.5%. That lifted the Pending Home Sales Index up from 105.4 to 108.3. And Consumer Confidence soared to 135.7 from last month's 121.5 and expectations for 125.0. That's an 11.7% increase, and the best reading of the year! Earnings season continues. And U.S.-China trade talks resume in Shanghai this week. But all eyes and ears will be on the Fed this afternoon. Not just for what they do (odds are for a 25 basis point cut), but also for what they say afterwards (how many more rate cuts can we expect by year's end?). Should be an exciting day. Best, Kevin Matras Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research Sponsor Profit from "The Priceline of Pot" During the Gold Rush the largest wealth came from selling the shovels Read Full Story Most Popular Articles from Zacks.com Buy These 5 Stocks With Impressive Sales Growth Right Away Companies that put more emphasis on sales management have a competitive advantage, as strong sales generally gets converted into growth. 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