Investing.com - Here’s a preview of the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow
1. Dollar to Rebound or Suffer Post-Fed Hangover?
With the Federal Reserve decision out of the way, market focus is expected to return to economic data, with initial jobless claims, manufacturing and services data slated for Thursday.
The Labor department releases its weekly count of the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the week ended March 16, expected to show a drop to 225,000 from 226,000 the prior week. Continuing jobless claims are expected to have increased to 1.890 million from 1.879 million.
Economists forecast manufacturing PMI to show a preliminary reading of 56 for March while services PMI is expected to improve on the prior month reading of 55.9.
The Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index – which measures views on the condition of the U.S. economy, personal finances and the buying climate – will also be closely monitored after easing slightly last week.
The dollar fell sharply against a basket of major currencies Wednesday after the Federal Reserve raised interest by 0.25% but left its inflation forecasts roughly unchanged as labour market tightening is expected to ease in the years ahead.
“We're reading this as somewhat dovish because the Federal Reserve decision is anticipating benign inflation despite nearly 3% growth, said Bank of Montreal following the Federal Reserve decision. "
2. Natural Gas Inventories; Crude Rally in Focus
Natural gas prices snapped a three week winning streak last week and made a poor start to the week falling two out of past three days.
The Energy Information Agency’s weekly natural gas storage report is expected show gas storage fell by 87 billion cubic feet last week.
Crude oil prices, meanwhile, settled 2.6% higher at $65.17 a barrel, a six week high on Wednesday amid a surprise draw in U.S. crude supplies and investor expectations that President Donald Trump may adopt a tougher stance on Iran, which pave the way for the president to opt against waiving sanction in May.
2. Facebook: More Pain or Time for Gain?
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) recovered some its losses Tuesday, after bouncing off lows of $1.63, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg attempted to quell customer and investor concerns amid the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
In a nearly 1000-word Facebook post, Zuckerberg vowed to notify users whose data was allegedly farmed by Cambridge Analytical.
He also laid out measures to ensure Facebook user data would be protected including an investigation into all apps with access to Facebook data, and an audit of apps with suspicious activity.
Additional measures highlighting in the post included launching a tool at the top of the News Feed, providing users with the option to revoke any app from accessing their data.
This comes as Sandy Parakilas – former platform operations manager at Facebook – claimed that he warned senior executives at the company about its soft approach to data protection.