S&P 500 Forecast Ahead of Fed Interest Rate Decision; Earnings Week

Summary:

S&P 500 is trading higher as investors focus on this week's earnings from firms like Apple and Tesla; and the FOMC interest rate decision.

S&P 500 has eased as investors prepare for this week’s corporate earnings. About one-third of companies embedded in this stock market index are scheduled to release their Q1’21 earnings in the course of the week.

In today’s session, Tesla is among the companies that will be presenting their financial results. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Apple are also set to release their first-quarter earnings this week. So far, most of the corporate earnings have surpassed Wall Street’s forecasts.

Besides, the Federal Reserve interest rate decision scheduled for Wednesday will have a major impact on S&P 500. The central bank’s dovish policy is likely to limit the greenback’s upward potential while fuelling the stock market. On Monday, the US dollar was down by 0.11% at 90.73.

Technical Outlook

S&P 500 is trading higher on Monday as the stock market prepares for a loaded week ahead. On Friday, the index hit a new all-time high but failed to sustain the gains at the close of the market. As at the time of writing, it was up by 0.17% at 4,182. Besides, on a 4-hour chart, it is trading above the 14 and 28-day exponential moving averages.

S&P 500’s technical outlook is bullish and it could hit 4,200 in the near term. It is likely to find resistance at this level before moving further up to its next target at 4,250. On the flip side, it could trade sideways at its current support level of 4174 as the bears attempt to push it to the lower targets of 4150 and 4120.