By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com -- Stocks fought back on Wednesday after a sell-off the day before on concerns over inflation and rising bond yields.
But uncertainty persisted. Stocks traded mixed for much of the morning and then ventured into green territory at mid-afternoon, only to close mixed. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill continued their game of brinkmanship over the continued funding of the federal government.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned of economic uncertainty in the medium-term, and that inflation was likely to remain elevated this year.
"It is frustrating to acknowledge that getting people vaccinated and getting Delta under control 18 months later still remains the most important economic policy that we have," Powell said in response to a question on the U.S. economic outlook at a virtual event sponsored by the European Central Bank, as reported by Reuters.
"And it's also frustrating to see the bottlenecks and supply chain problems not getting better, in fact at the margin apparently getting a little bit worse,” Powell said. "We see that continuing into next year probably and holding inflation up longer than we had thought.”
Congress has until the end of Thursday before government operations start shutting down, unless, of course, the Democrats succeed in their efforts to provide a stopgap funding while still feuding with Republicans over the debt limit. Stay tuned.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. More earnings
CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX)’s second-quarter profit per share is seen coming in at $1.85 on a revenue of $6.78 billion, according to analysts tracked by Investing.com. Meanwhile home retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY)is expected to report second-quarter revenue of $2.06 billion and EPS of 52 cents.
2. Economic output
The U.S. economy is likely to have grown in the second quarter at the same pace as the first quarter. As per estimates, it is seen having grown at 6.6%. The ‘second estimate’ had pegged it at the same rate of 6.6%. The GDP data is expected out at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT)
3. Inflation reading
U.S. consumer spending is likely to have risen by 3.7% in the second quarter, slowing down from the first quarter’s 6.5% growth. The core PCE price index is likely to have grown by 6.1% in the second quarter, unchanged from the first quarter. This data is also due out at 8:30 AM ET.