U.S. shares completed decrease on Friday to endure their second weekly loss in a row as buyers weighed the outlook for rates of interest amid renewed inflation fears.

For the week, the benchmark declined 0.1%, the tech-heavy dropped 0.7%, and the blue-chip dipped 0.1%.

Supply: Investing.com

The blockbuster week forward is anticipated to be an eventful one crammed with a number of market-moving occasions, together with the Federal Reserve’s newest financial coverage assembly.

The U.S. central financial institution is extensively anticipated to go away rates of interest unchanged on Wednesday, however Fed Chair Jerome Powell may provide hints about when charge cuts may begin when he speaks within the post-meeting press convention.

Supply: Investing.com

Traders have largely pushed again expectations for the Fed’s first reduce to July following a current batch of scorching inflation knowledge, as per the Investing.com .

Elsewhere, on the earnings docket, there are only a handful of company outcomes due, together with Nike (NYSE:), FedEx (NYSE:), Micron Expertise (NASDAQ:), Lululemon (NASDAQ:), and KB House (NYSE:).

No matter which path the market goes, under I spotlight one inventory prone to be in demand and one other which may see contemporary draw back. Bear in mind although, my timeframe is simply for the week forward, Monday, March 18 – Friday, March 22.

Inventory to Purchase: Nvidia

I count on Nvidia’s inventory to increase its march larger within the week forward because the AI expertise darling hosts its extremely anticipated ‘GTC 2024’ convention, at which it’s prone to showcase its newest developments in generative AI, accelerated computing, giant language fashions, robotics, and extra.

The four-day occasion, which is the primary in-person GTC in 5 years, will kick off late Monday from the San Jose Conference Middle, in California. The corporate expects greater than 300,000 individuals to register both in individual or nearly.

A lot of the focus will fall on CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech scheduled for Monday at 1:00PM PDT/4:00PM EST.

In accordance with the outline, Huang will share how rising traits and improvements, equivalent to the ability of recent synthetic intelligence, deep studying, and accelerated computing, are driving transformation within the tech trade.

Along with the keynote speech, Huang may also take part in a panel dialogue on Wednesday morning with all eight authors of ‘Consideration Is All You Want’, the groundbreaking paper that launched transformers to the world and revolutionized AI.

Moreover, different key members of Nvidia’s management workforce are anticipated to disclose contemporary particulars on the tech firm’s new merchandise and options, with some dialogue on AI GPU chips anticipated, together with the upcoming B100.

The graphics chip maker can also be anticipated to point out off its newest AI accelerator, in addition to different computing improvements for knowledge heart {hardware}, PC gear, software program and far more.

Shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ:) are inclined to rally through the week of its annual GTC occasion. At its final convention in March 2023, NVDA shares jumped after Huang mentioned the “iPhone second of AI has began.”

Supply: Investing.com

NVDA inventory ended Friday’s session at $878.36, not removed from its current file peak of $974 reached on March 8.

The Santa Clara, California-based AI large just lately overtook Amazon (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) to grow to be the third most useful firm buying and selling on the U.S. inventory change, trailing solely Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Apple (NASDAQ:).

Shares have skilled a meteoric rise, growing by 76% this 12 months alone due to ongoing AI-related buzz. In 2023, Nvidia’s shares soared by a whopping 239%, cementing its standing as a pacesetter within the AI trade.

As ProTips factors out, Nvidia is in ’Glorious’ monetary well being situation, due to strong earnings and gross sales progress prospects. ProTips additionally underscores Nvidia’s anticipated substantial surge in free money circulate as a result of its excessive working margins.

Inventory to Promote: Nike

I foresee a weak efficiency for Nike’s inventory within the coming week, because the sneaker large will doubtless ship one other quarter of shrinking revenue and gross sales progress and supply disappointing steerage because of the difficult working setting.

Nike’s replace for its fiscal third quarter is scheduled to come back out after the shut on Thursday at 4:15PM ET and outcomes are prone to take a success from slowing client demand for athletic attire and gear amid the present backdrop.

Market individuals count on a large swing in NKE inventory following the print, with an implied transfer of about 7% in both path as per the choices market. Notably, shares plunged 11% to after the corporate’s FQ2 report in December.

Underscoring a number of near-term headwinds Nike faces, all 25 analysts surveyed by InvestingPro slashed their EPS estimates previously three months as Wall Avenue turned bearish on the maker of Air Jordan basketball sneakers.

Supply: InvestingPro

The Beaverton, Oregon-based firm is seen incomes $0.76 per share for its key vacation quarter, falling 3.8% from EPS of $0.79 within the year-ago interval, amid declining working margins.

In the meantime, income is forecast to say no 1% year-over-year to $12.28 billion, because the sportswear retailer faces a tough financial local weather which is seeing customers around the globe reduce spending on discretionary objects.

If that’s confirmed, it could mark the fifth straight quarter of slowing gross sales progress. Like different retailers, Nike has needed to enhance promotions to attraction to price-sensitive customers amid the present macro setting.

As such, it’s my perception that Nike executives will disappoint buyers of their full-year outlook and strike a cautious tone as a result of uneven gross sales in North America in addition to weak demand from China.

Supply: Investing.com

Nike (NYSE:) inventory – which fell to a 2024 low of $97.06 on March 6 – closed at $99.67 on Friday. At its present valuation, the Dow Jones athletic attire and footwear large has a market cap of $151 billion.

Shares are off to a downbeat begin in 2024, falling 8.2% year-to-date. That compares to a 4.8% achieve recorded by the Shopper Staples Choose Sector SPDR® Fund (NYSE:) over the identical interval.

It needs to be famous that Nike at present has a under common InvestingPro ‘Monetary Well being’ rating of two.6 out of 5.0 as a result of ongoing considerations weakening gross revenue margins and spotty gross sales progress.

You should definitely take a look at InvestingPro to remain in sync with the market pattern and what it means to your buying and selling.

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Disclosure: On the time of writing, I’m lengthy on the S&P 500, and the by way of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), and the Invesco QQQ Belief ETF (QQQ).

I often rebalance my portfolio of particular person shares and ETFs primarily based on ongoing danger evaluation of each the macroeconomic setting and corporations’ financials.

The views mentioned on this article are solely the opinion of the creator and shouldn’t be taken as funding recommendation.