How corporate America is handling sticky inflation and the prospect of higher interest rates will be top of mind for investors in the week ahead, after this week’s choppy moves. The bull market is on edge. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P 500 registered their second straight losing week after a hotter-than-anticipated March consumer price index report weighed on the interest rate outlook for investors. Markets are now pricing in two rate cuts starting in September, CME FedWatch Tool shows, instead of the three rate cuts starting in June investors held in their base case prior to the CPI report. Troubling signals are abounding as well. Treasury yields are surging, with the benchmark 10-year yield back above 4.5%. Oil prices are on the rise, with Exxon Mobil hitting an all-time high amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Safe haven gold is spiking, with consumers heading to their local Costco stores to snap up gold bars . The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) , commonly referred to as the fear gauge, has crept back up to levels last seen in October 2023. Parts of tech are outperforming, though, with Apple notably closing out the week with a 4% advance. .VIX YTD mountain VIX Next week will bring more information that could add to the recent choppiness. The first-quarter earnings season, which kicked off Friday, will give Wall Street insight into how businesses expect to weather an environment of elevated interest rates. Elsewhere, more macro data, such as U.S. retail sales, will give insight into how the consumer is handling the pressure of higher prices. “I’m a little concerned with all the cross currents,” Bob Doll, chief executive of Crossmark Global Investments, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Friday. “When the [price-to-earnings ratios] are over 20, things better be nearly perfect. And when you’re not getting the rate cuts, you can’t sustain the PE, and then if earnings become a question mark, that will cause a lot more people to ask questions,” Doll added. To be sure, many investors expect that markets can absorb the likelihood of fewer rate cuts this year so long as the Federal Reserve does not take a suddenly hawkish view and decide to put rate hikes back on the table. As it is, markets have managed to rally this year, even as the expectations for rate cuts have eased. First-quarter earnings season underway The corporate earnings season kicks into high gear in the week ahead. Investors are expecting this first-quarter earnings…
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