00:01 Speaker A
Well, the first thing you need to know about is the world’s second largest economy, China. Economic activity in the country slowed more than expected across the board in August. This has added to the likelihood that Beijing will roll out more stimulus in order to hit its official growth targets. Industrial output and consumption had their worst month yet this year after a sharp slowdown in July. An underperformance that may heap more pressure on Chinese negotiators during high-level trade talks this week with US representatives.
00:36 Speaker A
With a boom in exports cooling off, many analysts are predicting a downshift in China’s economy during the final months of 2025.
00:48 Speaker A
The next thing you need to know about is changes to the Federal Reserve board. The Senate will vote tonight on Steven Myron’s nomination to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. The timing is significant. If all the formal steps align, Myron could have a say in this week’s Fed meeting. Whether he can be sworn in quickly enough to participate though, still remains unclear.
01:13 Speaker A
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is also racing to sideline Fed Reserve Governor Lisa Cook before this week’s policy meeting, and has asked a federal appeals court to pause a lower court order that restored her to the central bank’s board.
01:31 Speaker A
And the final thing to know is that the Federal Reserve is widely expected to make its first rate cut in 2025 this week. The bigger question for investors is how many more cuts could be on the way as the central bank contends with a weak job market, sticky inflation, and of course, mounting pressure from the White House. Well, my colleague Josh Lipton tells us what else you need to watch this week.
02:00 Josh Lipton
Time now for what to watch in the market, starting off on the Federal Reserve. All eyes, of course, will be on the Fed’s September interest rate decision. Two-day FOMC meeting kicking off on Tuesday, and we’ll also be getting a new summary of economic projections, also known as the Fed’s dot plot. Wall Street largely expecting the Fed to cut rates at Wednesday’s meeting. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be giving a press conference after the interest rate decision. Yahoo Finance being coverage on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
02:30 Josh Lipton
And taking a look at earnings, we’re going to be getting a new batch of reports from notable names including Bullish Cracker Barrel and FedEx. Bullish announcing results for the second quarter and hosting its inaugural earnings call after the market’s close on Wednesday. analysts seeing a path for Bullish to take US institutional market share from Coinbase, but only after new US crypto rules are passed. Investors will be listening closely to the company’s first earnings call for any clues about the company’s path ahead.
03:00 Josh Lipton
And moving over to housing, fresh housing data coming out on Wednesday with housing starts and building permits, economists forecasting housing starts to fall to an annualized rate of 1.37 million while building permits tick up slightly to 1.37 million.
