Markets
The Federal Reserve Meets To Discuss Interest Rates
A lot of moving pieces at the Fed. (Getty Images)
Fedding

A once-certain June rate cut is looking a whole lot like a coin flip now

Matt Phillips

All this good economic news may delay the Fed rate cuts the stock market has been counting on.

The most recent Q4 GDP report was good. The March jobs report was great. And the manufacturing sector — which was a looking weak for a while — may be springing back to life.

That’s good for people who work for a living.

But it’s less good for the stock market, as economic strength, all else equal, could keep inflation higher than it otherwise would be, and too high for the central bank to feel comfortable about cutting.

You can see from the chart below, the market-based odds of a rate cut at the June meeting have fallen from near certainty at the start of the year to roughly 50% at the moment.

And that has cooled off what was a stellar start to the year for stocks.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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