Tech outperforms, cautious Fed member speak, and mixed US data

Nearly all sectors finished yesterday's session in the green, with tech in second place, though the two in the red were consumer discretionary and communication, albeit with limited losses. The performance for the tech-heavy index ultimately surpassed both the Dow 30 and the S&P 500 for the session, yet the gains failed to offset the losses suffered on Tuesday, and futures are struggling as of this morning.

There was plenty of attention on the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Chairman Powell, who stated that rates are "likely at their peak for this tightening cycle", though "the economic outlook is uncertain" and reaching their 2% "inflation objective is not assured". He cautioned against cutting too soon and failed to provide an exact timeline on rate cuts that will "likely be appropriate... at some point this year". After that, Daly emphasized that they are "focused and resolute on getting inflation down", and Kashkari mentioned the possibility of two or even just one rate cut this year.

As for Treasury yields, they finished the session lower on the further end of the curve, though unchanged in real terms, and market pricing (CME's FedWatch) remained unchanged as the majority anticipate a hold-hold-cut scenario for the March-May-June meetings.

Economic data out of the US was mixed, with ADP's non-farm estimate for the month of February slightly missing expectations at 140K (vs. 150K estimates), job openings for January out of JOLTS falling to 8.86 million, not far off forecasts, and wholesale inventories for the same month dropping by 0.3%. The weekly claims, Challenger's job cuts, and unit labor costs are among the data releasing later today before tomorrow's market-moving Non-Farm Payrolls.

Nasdaq technical analysis, overview, strategies, and levels

Price spent most of yesterday’s session above its previous 1st Resistance, easily giving conformist buy-breakouts, the edge before the moves as of writing this morning that took it back beneath the key level. Its technical overview remains a ‘bull average’ in both weekly and daily time frames and means added caution via ‘significant reversal’ for conformists buying off dips when price reaches the 1st (or even 2nd) Support levels.