March Outlook: Fed In Focus With New Fiscal Stimulus Helping Drive Up Yields

March Outlook: Fed In Focus With New Fiscal Stimulus Helping Drive Up Yields

After an icy February, March begins soon with hints of spring in the air. And hints of stimulus. Heading into the new month, focus turns to Capitol Hill, where Congress is expected to deliver another $1. 9 trillion in stimulus (give or take a hundred billion) before the first regular season baseball batter steps to the plate. After December's stimulus checks apparently contributed to retail sales surging more than 5% in January, there's optimism that if a small stimulus helped the economy, maybe a bigger stimulus will help more. Besides watching the political sausage get made, investors likely will have their eyes on the Fed as it prepares for a mid-month meeting. There's also vaccine progress, a bunch of company investor days, and even a smattering of earnings despite the main season finishing in February. Key company results to watch in March include Target TGT (TGT), FedEx FDX (FDX), Oracle ORCL (ORCL), Zoom Video (ZM), Kohl's KSS (KSS), Broadcom AVGO (AVGO), and Nordstrom JWN (JWN). As always, keep an eye on data. Especially employment. The last few Labor Department payroll reports have been nothing to write home about. Same with weekly new jobless claims. The Fed says the recent pandemic