U.S. inflation rates remain firm (“sticky”) as the labor market stays tight, leading investors not to expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates very soon. According to Trading Central's "Economic Insight", the central bank will announce on Wednesday (May 1) its decision on keeping key interest rates unchanged.

In the face of market uncertainty driven by inflation and interest rate speculation, traders should consider portfolio adjustments. While the S&P 500 experienced a notable decline, the Utilities sector showed resilience, with our report highlighting four standout companies poised to weather market volatility.

With the S&P 500 dropping below its 20- and 50-day moving averages, showing a bearish market trend, we’re focusing on finding defensive value stocks. We’re using a simple approach to find undervalued stocks with potential for growth despite the current market conditions.

As the U.S. inflation rate is not cooling as fast as expected, investors do not expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates very soon. This has led to pressure seen in the stock markets recently. Another set of closely-watched inflation data will come out next week.

Trading Central Options Insight is a valuable tool that assists traders and investors in identifying the optimal strategy based on their individual directional bias and risk preferences.

Market participants should then closely watch China’s gross domestic product (GDP) data due Tuesday (April 16), seeking clues if China would further boost liquidity to support markets.

The Energy Sector Fund ETF (XLE) has emerged as the top-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, with an impressive return of 17.1 per cent. In light of this, we aimed to identify U.S. energy stocks that stand out as outliers within this uptrend.

Using Trading Central's Market Buzz for understanding premarket moves, EasyJet has been identified as an interesting choice.

Another set of key economic data on Japan will be released on the coming Monday (April 1). According to Trading Central's "Economic Insight", the Bank of Japan Tankan Large Manufacturers Index is expected to dip to 11 in the first quarter.