The S&P 500 Index remained in a tight range in the past few months even as the Federal Reserve delivered three interest rate cuts and American companies published strong corporate earnings. It was trading at $6,880, down slightly from the year-to-date high of $7,050.
Top Earnings and Geopolitical Events
The index will react to the upcoming corporate earnings by some of the top companies in the United States. CrowdStrike, a top cybersecurity company, will release its earnings on Tuesday. These numbers will be important because of the ongoing concerns that AI tools will disrupt the cybersecurity industry. CrowdStrike stock has slumped by over 30% from its highest level last year.
AutoZone, Ross Stores, Target, and Best Buy will also release their earnings later today. These are important numbers as they are some of the biggest companies in the retail industry. At times, their numbers will provide more color on the health of the American consumer.
The S&P 500 Index will also react to the upcoming earnings by companies like Broadcom, Veeva, and OKTA. Broadcom is one of the top companies in the artificial intelligence industry. Other top retailers that will publish its earnings on Wednesday are Abercrmbie & Fitch, American Eagle, and Bath & Body Works. CostCo and Kroger, two of the top retailers will also release their earnings on Thursday.
The index will also react to macro data, including the upcoming US jobs data, which will come out on Friday. Economists expect the data to show that the economy created 70k jobs in February, much lower than the 110k it created in the previous month.
Most importantly, the index will react to the developments in the Middle East, where a war has broken out between the US and Iran. Signs that the war is ending will be bullish for the index.
S&P 500 Index Forecast
The daily chart shows that the S&P 500 Index has moved sideways in the past few months. This performance means that it has not made any gains this year. As a result, it is consolidating at the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA).
The index has formed an ascending triangle pattern, whose upper side is at $7,000. It has also moved above the ascending trendline of this pattern.
Therefore, the index will likely have a bullish breakout, potentially to the upper side of the triangle. A move above that level will point to more gains in the coming weeks. If this happens, the index will jump to over $7,100.