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This week’s highlights:
The Federal Reserve delivered its first interest rate cut of the year and signaled that there are more to come. The Fed also came through on expectations that the rate decision would be the least interesting part of the meeting. As Sarah Hansen writes, reading between the lines of Fed officials’ forecasts for inflation, growth, and rates, there’s a lot of uncertainty. As Chair Jerome Powell said, the Fed is facing a “difficult situation,” with an economy buffeted by tariffs and immigration policy changes. And though he refused to go there, the Fed is also facing a serious attack on its independence.
On that subject, Ivanna Hampton spoke with Morningstar’s senior US economist Preston Caldwell about the latest Fed meeting, as well as his forecast for how far the Fed will eventually cut rates.
It was another good week for stocks, with the Fed’s tilt toward lower interest rates giving a boost to tech names. Large-cap stocks were the bigger gainers past week, but for the last three months, small-company stocks have been in the lead. Bella Albrecht looks under the hood of this rally to see which stocks have been driving it. Yes, AI is part of it, but you might be surprised by some of the other winners.
Speaking of AI, Dan Lefkovitz sat down with Vanguard chief economist Joe Davis and talked about what’s next in the big AI rally. Find out why he thinks value stocks could be the surprise winners.
Lastly, despite tech stocks’ move higher this year, a surprising number of names in the sector remain undervalued. We’ve updated our screen of the best tech stocks to buy now, and offer 12 names to add to a watchlist.
As always, be sure to visit our Markets page for our latest coverage and live stock market updates, along with our full weekly calendar of key upcoming data and events.