Monday’s selloff has quickly been forgotten as the indices are pressing their highs.  The concerning rate at which the Delta variant has been spreading spooked markets, but fears of lockdowns are subsiding as we learn more.  The Dow and S&P fell just ticks short of printing new all-time highs in the premarket, while the Nasdaq managed to top it’s previous mark.  Earnings season is once again upon us, and the data has been strong.  While it is easy to be optimistic about the coming releases, investors have plenty to be concerned about next week. 

The two-day FOMC meeting will be the star of the show.  The committee members have been getting more hawkish with each meeting.  Traders will want to see if more members continue to shift towards tapering sooner rather than later.  Consideration of the Delta variant was cited in yesterday’s ECB commitment to keeping rates lower for longer.  Lagarde mentioned that the new variant is likely to have a pretty dramatic impact on the recovery of industries like travel and hospitality.  Perhaps we hear something similar from Powell on Wednesday. 

Other releases of note will be Monday’s housing data, Quarter 2 GDP on Thursday, and Personal Income and PMI on Friday. Friday’s Personal Income release is when we’ll see the PCE data, which is the Fed’s favorite measure of inflation.