Nvidia has been the talk of the town this week. The next major catalyst for Wall Street is around the corner, however. The Federal Reserve is set to hold its next monetary policy meeting in September. The consensus is for the Fed to cut rates by at least a quarter percentage point , according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Investors have been clamoring for lower rates from the central bank, as worries of slowing economic growth and easing inflation permeate through the Street. Recession fears have eased, but the Fed is still expected to cut rates. This could be a recipe for strong market gains. Barclays noted that S & P 500 averages a return of more than 5% in the six months after the first rate cut of an easing cycle. One year out, those returns expand to nearly 10%. “US equities have historically staged impressive rallies when cutting cycles have begun in the absence of recessions, which, barring any surprises in the near term, should be the case this time round,” global derivatives strategist Stefano Pascale wrote. The next clue investors will get on the future path of monetary policy will come Friday in the form of the July personal consumptions expenditure price index reading. But regardless of its outcome, B. Riley Wealth Management chief market strategist Art Hogan thinks the Fed is sure to go ahead with its September rate cut. “They’ve turned the page on that for us already and made it pretty clear with Chair Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole,” he told CNBC in a recent interview. “So to the extent that the market continues to grind higher but inflation continues to grind lower, we’re pretty confident the Fed’s going to cut rates on Sept. 18 and probably continue to do so for the next 18 months.”
