Quarterly Outlook
Macro Outlook: The US rate cut cycle has begun
Peter Garnry
Chief Investment Strategist
FX Trader, Loonieviews.net
Summary: Equity markets remain in a funk following earnings disappointments from Amazon and Alphabet, but US GDP came in ahead of forecasts into the New York bell.
Amazon (AMZN: Nasdaq) and Alphabet (GOOGL: Nasdaq) didn’t do global equity markets any favours when their earnings releases disappointed analysts, but this morning’s GDP data may have been the balm for the burn. However, the evidence is sparse in early trading.
Wall Street is taking it on the chin at the market open. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 2.25%, the S&P 500 is down 1.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.02%. However, this morning’s GDP report lifted equity futures off their lowest levels, and there is still hope for additional gains into the weekend.
US GDP rose 3.5% in Q3, beating the 3.3% forecast. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis attributed the gain to increases in personal consumption (PCE), private industry investment. and federal government spending. FX markets channelled Shaina Twain and sang “that don’t impress me much”; the US dollar stopped rising, but the retreat has been shallow.