FOMC decision, jobs data, Meta Platforms earnings: 3 things to watch

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By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Stocks were rallying ahead of tomorrow's Federal Reserve decision on interest rates as the S&P 500 was on pace for its strongest January since 2019.

Tech stocks are leading the indexes higher as investors await reports from Meta Platforms on Wednesday and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) on Thursday.

The market expects the Fed to raise interest rates by one-quarter of a percentage point, but investors will be listening to what Chair Jerome Powell says at an afternoon press conference for more context about the Fed's thinking heading into the year. Fed officials have said they want to see the terminal rate rise above 5% and that they would hold rates higher for longer to make sure inflation is tamed. But some investors have hoped to see signs the Fed is willing to pause its rate hikes later this spring.

Jobs data factor into the Fed's decision-making process, and this week brings a number of job-related economic data reports. The biggest one investors are waiting on is Friday's jobs report for January, which is expected to show the economy added fewer jobs than in December.

President Joe Biden is also meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy tomorrow, with the agenda expected to include how to address the nation's debt ceiling. Republicans want spending cuts in exchange for agreeing to raise it. Democrats don't want to tie spending cuts to it.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. FOMC decision

The Federal Open Market Committee decision is expected to come out at 14:00 ET (19:00 GMT). Then Powell's press conference, which will stream live, is slated for 14:30 ET.

2. Jobs data

The ADP private payroll report at 8:15 ET is expected to show employers gained 178,000 jobs in January, down from 235,000 the prior month. Later in the morning, at 10:00 ET, the government's JOLTs job opening report is expected to show 10.25 million openings in December, down from 10.458M the prior month.

3. Meta Platforms

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) is expected to report earnings of $2.26 a share on revenue of $31.5 billion.