Stocks Gain Ground Ahead Of Powell’s Speech

Stocks Move Higher After Yesterday’s Pullback

S&P 500 futures are gaining ground in premarket trading while traders wait for Fed Chair Jerome Powell speech at Jackson Hole Symposium which would be delivered soon after the market open.

Recent comments from Fed officials have been rather hawkish and pointed to a potential start of tapering in the last three months of 2021.

Interestingly, the market does not look worried. The safe-haven U.S. dollar is mostly flat against a broad basket of currencies while gold is trying to settle above the $1800 level. The yield of 10-year Treasuries declined below 1.35% after an unsuccessful attempt to settle above 1.38%.

Personal Income Increased By 1.1% In July

U.S. has just released Personal Income and Personal Spending reports for July. The reports indicated that Personal Income increased by 1.1% month-over-month compared to analyst consensus which called for growth of 0.2%. Personal Spending grew by 0.3% month-over-month, in line with the analyst consensus.

It remains to be seen whether these reports will provide additional support to the market as healthy growth of Personal Income may provide another argument for Fed to cut its asset purchase program.

Today, traders will also have a chance to take a look at the final reading of Consumer Sentiment report for August which is projected to show that Consumer Sentiment decreased from 81.2 to 70.7.

WTI Oil Tries To Settle Above The $69 Level

WTI oil gained upside momentum and moved towards the $69 level as companies began to shut down production in the Gulf of Mexico due to a potential hurricane.

The slow progress in Mexico, whose production levels have recently suffered from a fire, served as an additional positive catalyst for oil.

In case WTI oil manages to settle above the $69 level, it will gain additional upside momentum and head towards the psychologically important $70 level which will be bullish for oil-related stocks.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.