Market Minute: Fed in Focus as Earnings Season Begins Amid Tumultuous Markets

After a historic week in the stock market that saw wild whipsaw-style swings seemingly every day, stocks managed to retake some ground that was lost during the tariff news-driven turmoil this month. Looking ahead, markets will be closed on Apr. 19 for the Good Friday holiday, but there is still plenty crammed into this shortened week to keep traders busy.

In terms of economic data, there is little to start off the week on Monday except for Consumer Inflation Expectations, and look out on Tuesday for Import/Export Prices and the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index. Things start to pick up on Wednesday, which includes Retail Sales, MBA Mortgage Applications, Industrial Production, Business Inventories, and the NAHB Housing Market Index. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also is scheduled to speak on Wednesday at 11:30am CT, with other Fed presidents slated to speak throughout the week. Finally, Thursday will wrap up the holiday-shortened week with Jobless Claims, Housing Starts, and the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index.

Earnings season has once again begun, with major banks like JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), and Morgan Stanley (MS) leading the charge on Friday to somewhat mixed results. On Monday, look for Goldman Sachs (GS). Tuesday will bring quarterly results from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), and United Airlines (UAL). Wednesday brings a rather diverse mix and will include ASML Holdings (ASML), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Kinder Morgan (KMI), CSX (CSX), and Las Vegas Sands (LVS). Finally, Thursday will wrap things up before the Good Friday holiday with Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Netflix (NFLX), and American Express (AXP).

Given that several large tech names are due to report earnings next week, traders may be looking to the Nasdaq-100 and its associated trading products, such as the Invesco QQQ ETF (QQQ). A technical assessment of the QQQ ETF shows despite a colossal +12% gain on Wednesday last week, the trend is still pointed downward. The trendline beginning with the all-time highs near 540 is still in play, and price failed to crack its 21-day Exponential Moving Average during the surge. Momentum also does not show an upside shift, as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) failed to recapture the 50 midline that separates bullish and bearish momentum. Price has since retreated somewhat and hit lows near a notable trading area around 440, which shows a relatively large node based on the yearly Volume Profile Point of Control. Another smaller volume node could provide some support near 430, which is relatively close to Thursday’s lows.