Why the start of February could 'set the tone' for the quarter

Baird Managing Director and Market Strategist, Michael Antonelli, discusses what to expect from the markets at the start of February.

You can watch the entire interview here.

Key takeaways

00:28: What February has in store

00:38: What investors need to see from the market

Video transcript

MICHAEL ANTONELLI: The number of stocks reporting this week, I think it's 107 S&P companies, six of the Dow components, a Fed meeting. So we're going to kick off the month with plenty of data to digest. I think I came on Yahoo Finance the last time I was here and said, I think the Fed's one more 25 hike and done. And I'm going to stick with that. And I'm probably out of consensus for sure. I think they're going to look at some of the data and say, all right, this long variable lag we mentioned and the fact that we've done enough already, I think we get another look at CPI and earnings.

So I think February has in store for it a lot at the front end of the month. And the front end of the month is going to basically set the tone for the whole entire maybe the rest of the quarter here, basically. But we need to see the market defend the 200-day defend this kind of downtrend. That will be an important part of the first part of the month, but ultimately, it's going to come down to these 107 companies that are kind of the bulk of the earnings.