JOLTs Openings, Consumer Confidence, Best Buy: 3 Things to Watch

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Investing.com — Stocks fell for the second day as investors continued to be spooked by Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s words last week.

But stocks were paring losses heading into the final hours of trading, after sharper moves lower earlier in the day, led by big tech stocks such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Investors are worried the Fed will keep at its interest rate hikes for too long and tip the economy into recession. Powell said the Fed was going to do what it had to do to tame inflation, and get it back to the central bank’s 2% target rate. That could mean sustained big rate hikes. The Fed already raised its benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage points at each of its last two meetings and could do so again when it meets in September.

Before that, the jobs report for August will come out this Friday. Powell has said the Fed would look at the data when it decides on policy. 

There are other data points due out this week, too, including housing numbers starting on Tuesday, job openings and consumer sentiment. It’s a light calendar for earnings, but Best Buy , Lululemon and other companies are due this week.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. JOLTs job openings

The government’s JOLTs job openings report is due out Tuesday morning at 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT). Analysts are expecting openings to number 10.475 million in July. That would be down from 10.698 million the prior month.

2. CB consumer confidence

The CB consumer confidence reading for August will come out also at 10:00 ET. Analysts expect it to tick up slightly to 97.9 from 95.7 in the prior reading.

3. Best Buy earnings

The electronics retailer Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) will report earnings Tuesday. Analysts expect it to report earnings per share of $1.29 on revenue of $10.3 billion.