Yellen Speech Could Drive the S&P Above 2000

Fed Chair Janet Yellen could be the one to kick the S&P 500 across the 2,000 mark.

Yellen speaks at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium at 10 a.m. EST Friday, in a speech that’s been anticipated for weeks and was widely expected to be typically dovish. However, since Wednesday, traders have been wondering if she would sound more like the Fed’s hawkish July meeting minutes or her normal dovish self.

“The risk is she’s not as dovish as they all hope,” said Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS. Yellen is expected to speak on the labor market, and the Fed minutes noted that Fed officials were surprised by improvement in the employment picture.

Yellen’s speech topic is “Re-Evaluating Labor Market Dynamics” and she was expected to repeat her comments that the Fed needs to maintain easy policy that will help the labor market heal. Fed watchers were also hoping to get more guidance as to what metrics Yellen is watching on the labor market.

via CNBC