Consumer sentiment, Fed speaker, APEC summit: 3 things to watch

Investing.com -- Stocks sank on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell dashed investor enthusiasm over the end of interest rate increases.

Powell said in a speech that the Fed wasn't confident yet it had reached a sufficiently restrictive level on monetary policy to bring inflation down to target, suggesting further rate hikes cannot be ruled out.

"The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2 percent over time; we are not confident that we have achieved such a stance," Powell said in opening remarks Thursday during a policy panel at the 24th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference.

The remarks put a stop to an eight-day winning streak for the S&P 500.

Futures traders still see a high probability of the Fed keeping rates steady when it meets in December for the final time this year. But some are factoring in the possibility of a rate increase early next year.

Economic data is what is driving the Fed's decision making, and the policy makers will get another batch of data on consumer prices next week with the release of the CPI for October.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Consumer sentiment

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment is expected to be released at 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT). Analysts expect a reading of 64, slightly higher than the prior reading of 63.8.

2. Fed speaker

Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan is expected to speak on Friday at a money market conference by the European Central Bank. Several other Fed officials have also made public appearances this week.

3. APEC summit

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco kicks off this weekend with meetings of finance ministers, and is expected to culminate next week with a meeting between President Joe Biden and China's President Xi Jinping.

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