The U.S. dollar index closed at the lowest level since February 2022, as U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his disagreement with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on interest rates. A weakening labor market will surely add to pressure against the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates soon.

In the coming week, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will make a semiannual monetary policy report to Congress. Investors will pay attention to his testimonies, trying to seek clues on the timing of the next interest-rate cut.

With the S&P/TSX Composite Index reaching new record highs this week, we used Trading Central’s Quantamental analysis to identify leading Canadian stocks that offer compelling dividend yields with a strategy that outperforms the index.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates on Wednesday (June 18) should be the market’s focus of the week. According to Trading Central's "Economic Insight", the central bank will again keep rates unchanged.

While consumer activity shows strength, Canada’s industrial and construction sectors are under pressure.

Stabilizing inflation, cautious optimism from consumers and small businesses, but rising yields and slowing retail momentum hint at a complex macro backdrop.

With the S&P 500 trading within 4 per cent of its all-time high at the time of this writing, investor attention is focused on stocks showing strong momentum. Our screen aims to uncover outperforming U.S.-listed companies that combine robust price performance with solid fundamentals using Trading Central’s proprietary Quality and Momentum factor rating approach.

Before the U.S. Federal Reserve decides on interest rates on June 18, another set of major inflation data will be reported on Wednesday, June 11.

Investors should be hoping that U.S. jobs data to be released on the coming Friday (June 6) will be so soft as to let the Federal Reserve have one more excuse to cut interest rates.