Both the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) finished Monday’s trading in positive territory as the market braces for the September 16-17 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
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The U.S. and China wrapped up their second day of in-person trade talks in Madrid, Spain, with President Trump adding that the conversation went “very well” in a Truth Social post. Trump also said that he would speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. Afterward, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the two sides had agreed to a framework TikTok deal ahead of the app’s ban on September 17 and alluded to another 90-day tariff pause extension.
Meanwhile, Trump caused a stir on Wall Street after proposing that U.S. publicly traded companies should report earnings twice a year instead of every quarter in order to save costs and allow executives to run business operations better.
“Did you ever hear the statement that, ‘China has a 50 to 100 year view on management of a company, whereas we run our companies on a quarterly basis???’ Not good!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post. The significant change would have to be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is led by Trump-appointed Paul Atkins.
TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg has assigned a 60% chance of the SEC approving this measure, adding that it would take the agency at least six months to implement a proposal. Other analysts expressed concern, stressing that it would increase uncertainty and volatility while decreasing transparency.
On Wednesday, the Fed is expected to cut rates by 25 bps with a 96% probability, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. However, Standard Chartered expects the central bank to double that to a 50 bps cut due to a weakening labor market. That comes as the unemployment rate rose to 4.3% from 4.2% in August, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revised nonfarm payrolls for the year ended March by a record-high 911,000 jobs.
“August labor market data has paved the way for a ‘catch-up’ 50 basis point rate cut at the September FOMC meeting, similar to what occurred at this time last year,” the bank said. The odds of a 50 bps rate cut sit at just 4%.
The S&P 500 (SPX) closed with a 0.47% gain while the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) returned 0.84%.
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