Summary:

  • UoM consumer sentiment rises beating estimates by far

  • Inflation expectations remain unchanged

  • S&P 500 (US500 on xStation) falls after touching 61.8% retracement level

University of Michigan’s data pack was the last relevant release scheduled for this week and it offered investors positive surprise by beating expectations significantly. The inflation expectations remained on the previous levels. Moreover, US stocks are set for the biggest weekly gain in five years.link do file download link

UoM consumer sentiment preliminary print points for a major uptick. Source: Macrobond, XTB Research

The UoM consumer sentiment index print was a huge surprise as it came in at 99.9 against 95.5 expected by the surveyed economists. What is more the prior reading saw value of 95.7 thus we can see that the market consensus expected deterioration of the sentiment. However, the inflation expectations were left unchanged at the level of 2.7% for the 1 year projection and 2.5% for the 5-10 year projection. However, one should keep in mind that these were just preliminary prints for February and the actual ones will be published on 2nd March. link do file download link

US500 retreated after touching 61.8% retracement level. Source: xStation5

Taking a look at the US500 (S&P 500 futures underlying) chart one can see that the US benchmark managed to pare around 60% of the losses posted during latest slump. In the early trading US500 managed to touch the 61.8% retracement level of the last major leg lower yet it failed to break above this handle. Breaking above this handle may provide market bulls with solid ground prior to the next week. In the upcoming week we will see earnings reports from some big caps like Hewlett Packard or Walmart.