Friday will end one of the busiest weeks in a while on Wall Street following new developments in global trade relations after President Trump’s White House meeting with EU officials, better-than-expected corporate quarterly results, and Facebook’s historic stock tumble, but crowning measure this week will be revealing the economic scorecard of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). But in all seriousness, Facebook’s now-infamous loss was a doozy – losing 19 percent and $120 billion in market value, which is bigger than the entire market cap of Nike, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Airbus, Starbucks, and the Argentinean stock market.
Now, back to the good news.
According to a report from Market Watch, much perceived optimism from investors has primed markets for the opening bell Friday as the report is set to be released at 8:30 a.m. Some have looked to Guy LeBas, head of fixed-income strategy for Janney Montgomery Scott, for his enthusiastic take on Twitter for the end of the trading week and the announcement of the health of the U.S. economy.
“I can’t remember the last time the markets placed such importance on a #GDP number as they have with tomorrow. Given the perceived optimism, a miss could catch rates violently offside (i.e., rally risk),” he wrote.
The second-quarter GDP report is said by some to reflect the fastest rate of expansion since Q3 in 2014 that showed 5.2 percent growth. If the data shows a higher trend than that four-year-old figure, it would be the best GDP data report in 15 years, meaning a high rate of expansion is ensured to extend for the next few months.
The market buzz is also compounded by news from the White House that the numbers for Q2 are “huge.” President Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow predicted that the release will “live up to the billing.”
Kudlow appeared on Fox Business’s “Stuart Varney and Co.” yesterday and said, “You’re going to get a very good economic growth number tomorrow…Big.”
Currently, the Federal Reserve is indicating Q2 to show 3.8 percent growth while Market Watch economists show higher at 4.2 percent rate of expansion.
Amherst Pierpoint, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley are pitching a report prediction in the 4.7 percent range, according to Bloomberg.
A strong report could have members of the Trump Administration taking a victory lap around the White House, celebrating the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that came into fruition late last year. With a slashed corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent, the installation of deregulatory measures, and a number of other economically stimulative plans enacted over the past several months, it could mean the economy has lived up to the expectations of the President and many Wall Street Investors, even surpassing them.
Moreover, if expansion is really up in the five percent range, look for the U.S. central bank to raise rates higher than what many expected at the beginning of the year.