Fed minutes at centre of focus – New York Report
INVESTORS will comb through Wednesday’s minutes of the most recent Federal Reserve meeting for indications on how it will react to the recent yuan devaluation and the further decline in oil prices.
The recent outperformance of bank shares and underperformance of utilities, both on expectations of higher Treasury yields, support current market bets that the Fed will raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade after its mid-September meeting.
For importers from China such as Target, Wal-Mart and Home Depot, all reporting this week, the tailwind is expected to be offset by the expectation of a slower global economic growth, according to Michael Yoshikami, of Destination Wealth Management in Walnut Creek, California.
Estee Lauder, which posts earnings today, is among the first high-end retailers to report after the yuan devaluation.