Pool
Here’s what you need to know to navigate the markets today.
• Stocks are set to open mostly flat on Monday morning. Sunday night, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 9 points, or less than 0.1%, while the S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq Composite futures were down less than 0.1% as well. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo report earnings on Wednesday; Delta Air Lines, PepsiCo and
report on Thursday; and
and Morgan Stanley report on Friday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer-price index for March comes out Tuesday, the Census Bureau releases retail sales data for March on Thursday, and the University of Michigan releases its Consumer Sentiment Index for April on Friday.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the economy appears to be at an “inflection point” in an interview set to air on “60 Minutes” tonight. “We feel like we’re at a place where the economy’s about to start growing much more quickly and job creation coming in much more quickly,” he added. He attributed the expected growth to widespread vaccinations and strong monetary policy support. “The principal risk to our economy right now really is that the disease would spread again. It’s going to be smart if people can continue to socially distance and wear masks,” he added. Powell will also talk about inflation and actions the Federal Reserve and Congress have taken to recover from the pandemic in the interview.
• New Hampshire and Oklahoma will allow nonresidents to get Covid-19 vaccines, a trend that health experts hope other states will adopt as vaccines supplies get more plentiful as variants of the virus increase. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said out of state residents could start getting vaccinated on April 19, while Oklahoma began opened vaccinations to outsiders on Thursday. All 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have said they expect to meet President Biden’s deadline of vaccine eligibility for all adults by April 19. The U.S. administered a record 4.6 million shots on Saturday, but the seven-day average of new cases has risen more than 15% in the past two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
• Former President Donald Trump criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and others in a Saturday speech to GOP donors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. He criticized McConnell for failing to defend him during the impeachment trial. He also said he was “disappointed” in former Vice President
Mike Pence
for not stopping the certification of the election and criticized McConnell’s wife,
Elaine Chao,
for resigning as Transportation Secretary shortly after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
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