After last week’s calm, the highly anticipated events of this week are upon us. First and foremost, the FOMC press release is on Wednesday afternoon, followed by Janet Yellen’s press conference. While the outcome of another $10 billion taper is widely expected, traders are keenly focused on whether the “considerable period” language with regards to the 0-0.25% Fed Funds rate will be removed. In addition, many will be listening for Chair Yellen’s overall tone in the press conference.
On Thursday, the Scottish referendum takes place, though the results will be known for Friday’s trading. Oddsmakers currently place a 70-80% chance of a No vote, which would keep Scotland in the U.K. While the British pound rallied about 1.5% last week as the No vote odds increased, it’s hard to separate the effect of the Scottish referendum and the effect of overall dollar strength on the recent weakness in the pound.
The final big event this week is the Alibaba IPO. The company is now expected to price the offering above $70 due to heavy demand, as reported by Bloomberg this morning:
China’s biggest e-commerce company plans to increase the top end of a marketed range for the sale to above $70, from $60 to $66 previously, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. At $70, Alibaba’s sale would raise $22.4 billion, surpassing Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.’s $22.1 billion offering in 2010 as the biggest ever.
Yahoo is on track to hit a new 10 year high this morning on the higher price.
As for earnings, there are a few large headliners this week, but the overall calendar is very light. Here is the full event list for single stocks:
Monday, September 15th
- YUM Investor and Analyst Conference – Day 1
- AFL Analyst Briefing – Tokyo, 8:00 pm EDT
Tuesday, September 16th
- YUM Investor and Analyst Conference – Day 2
- ADBE earnings after the close
Wednesday, September 17th
- FDX earnings before the open
- GIS earnings before the open
- LEN earnings before the open
- AIG investor day
- DNKN investor and analyst day
- PIR earnings after the close
Thursday, September 18th
- CAG earnings before the open
- RAD earnings before the open
- CLR investor and analyst day
- ORCL earnings after the close
- RHT earnings after the close
- TIBX earnings after the close
Friday, September 19th
- iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on sale