Stocks fell to start 2024 as investors look ahead to the minutes from the last Fed meeting and December's jobs report, both set to be released this week. Economists polled by Bloomberg expect the Labor Department to report nonfarm payrolls expanded by 170,000, while the unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.8%.
Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Jennifer Schonberger joins the live show to break down the key economic news to watch this week.
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Video Transcript
- Well, Wall Street ending 2023 optimistic that the Fed is going to cut rates in the new year. Today, though, we are seeing some traders pull back on those bullish bets. 69% of traders pricing in the first rate cut to happen in March. Now that number is down about 4% from the levels that we saw yesterday.
We will get more investor reaction this week when the minutes from the Fed's last meeting in December are released tomorrow. And a number of FOMC officials are going to be speaking throughout the week. Yahoo Finance's Jennifer Schonberger has the details on that. Hi, Jen.
JENNIFER SCHONBERGER: Hey, Seana. Happy new year to you. Good morning. This week a bit light on Fed speak. But we perhaps will get more clarity on the Fed's thinking around rate cuts when minutes from the December policy meeting are released on Wednesday.
Think back to last year when Fed Chair Jay Powell did a surprisingly dovish pivot following a cacophony of differing viewpoints from inside the Fed. New York Fed President John Williams seemingly walking things back saying that the Fed was not even talking about rate cuts, whereas Chair Powell said during his press conference that rate cuts would be a topic of discussion looking ahead.
Other officials, of course, the median penciling in three rate cuts for this year. Meanwhile, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee saying the Fed not pre-committing to cutting interest rates soon or swiftly, while Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin told me in an interview he needs to see more conviction, more consistency than inflation is coming back to the Fed's 2% target before he considers cutting rates.
These minutes, of course, coming down tomorrow. Also tomorrow, we will hear from Richmond's Barkin with a fresh outlook on the economy. We will also get key jobs data on Friday when the jobs report is released, which officials will use for their next policy decision expected at the end of this month. Guys.
- Jennifer, it's all about that data, it seems. Thank you so much, Jennifer Schonberger, for joining us, and happy new year to you.