Powell Delivers

Investors will have to contend with a ton of headlines related to the Federal Reserve over the next two days. Beginning today with Powell’s testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee, we will also hear from Bullard at 1:30 and the Minutes from June’s meeting at 2 PM. Then tomorrow, another six Fed officials are on the calendar. Suffice it to say, that in the next 36 hours markets should have a much better idea of what the FOMC plans to do at its July 31st meeting, although the fact that futures are already pricing in 100% certainty of a cut suggests that markets are already pretty confident in their views.

Just released text of Powell’s testimony is being met with a positive reaction from the markets as the Chairman said that uncertainty continues to weigh on the outlook. 

Futures have seen a nice rebound in reaction to the just-released Powell comments, and one section of the equity market that could really use a lift is small caps. On a relative strength basis, small caps are right at their lowest level of performance versus the S&P 500 since the end of the Financial Crisis in 2009.