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Investing.com — Stocks notched another down day on Tuesday, led by a slump in tech stocks as investors worry about the Fed’s next move on interest rates.
The Federal Reserve meets for its last meeting of the year next week. Up to now, the expectation had been that it could start to ease off its pace of interest rate increases given data showing the economy has slowed.
While it’s still expected to raise rates but at a lower half-percentage point pace than its previous four meetings, recent data spooked investors into thinking rates will have to stay higher for longer. Stronger-than-expected services data and a strong jobs report last week have underscored this narrative, taking a bunch of money off the table in riskier assets.
Next week’s Fed decision will be accompanied by a press conference by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who will have a chance to put his spin on the data and his view of markets and the economy heading into the new year.
The new year also brings a new Congress, with the last matter being decided in a runoff election in Georgia today. It may take a while to call the results of that election, which will either give Democrats a slightly wider margin of majority in the chamber or give the GOP the power to block legislation and nominations.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Brown Forman earnings
The drinks maker Brown Forman (NYSE:BFb) is seen reporting earnings per share of 55 cents on $1.08 billion.
2. Campbell Soup earnings
Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB), maker of snacks and canned soups, is expected to report earnings of 87 cents on revenue of $2.4B.
3. GameStop results
The meme stock GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) is set to report earnings, as well. Analysts expect a loss per share of 27 cents on $1.35B in revenue.
