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Hi all, this week (19 Aug – 23 Aug), we have a lot of things in store for you. First and foremost, the Federal Reserve has just announced that it will be looking to cut interest rates in the coming months.

This is big news considering that investors have been waiting for the Fed to commit to this.

What Happened to U.S. Markets?

As a result, the U.S. markets have risen quite sharply on Friday when this was announced. Both the Malaysian and Chinese stock markets were closed when this happened, so Monday (or today) will be a good barometer to examine the impact of the Fed.

However, the pace of interest rate cuts will remain in question now. Whether it will be 50 basis points (bps) or 75 bps, that’s up to the Fed to decide.

What is the Fed Looking at?

Two main indicators will determine this – whether the recession is coming (if yes, how severe it is) and the strength of the U.S. jobs market.

If recession, cut rates. If the U.S. job market weakens, cut rates.

This is a condensed write-up of our paid Substack Newsletter that we run. If you are looking to solve your problems of understanding what the market and economic news mean to you and how they affect your investments, our content will help you on your journey to becoming an informed investor.

Every week, we will deliver you two newsletters, with the first one talking about the general market and economic news called ‘Fresh from the Oven’ and the second one detailing the individual stocks in the U.S., China and Malaysia (or other countries that are hot) markets that have performed well.

Furthermore, we will also produce bonus individual articles (if there is demand and urgency) that talk about specific investment and economic topics.