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Equities are shrugging off pre-market declines from Adobe (ADBE) and Ulta Beauty (ULTA) in a bid to recapture some of yesterday’s decline. Despite that move, all major stock market indices save for the Russell 2000 are on track to put in another positive week. Investors should be mindful of the leading nature of that small-cap index for the overall market as they get ready for Nvidia’s (NVDA) upcoming GTC developer conference that begins on Sunday and features a keynote from CEO Jensen Huang on Monday, February 18.  

One day later, the Fed will conclude its latest policy meeting, and while the market expects no change in policy, the market will lean into Fed Chair Powell’s comments and the updated set of economic projections. Given this week’s February inflation data, odds are high that the Fed will stick to its “need to see more progress on a sustained basis” mantra as it lifts its 2024 GDP and inflation forecasts. The subliminal message is shaping up for rate cut timing to move into 2H 2024, something that could lead to a modest resetting of GDP and earnings expectations for 2024. 

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