Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Stock Forecasts

Summary

Stocks could be in another holding period after eight straight days of gains for the major indices. In addition, the FOMC minutes from the July 30/31 meeting drop today at 2:00 pm, Jackson Hole and Chairman Powell take center stage on Friday, and a critical EPS report from NVDA comes next Wednesday. The major indices saw modest losses on Tuesday (between 0.2% and 0.3%). Once again, the small-caps took the brunt of the selling, with the Russell 2000 and S&P 600 both falling slightly more than 1%, and the S&P MidCap 400 dropping 0.9%. It was the weakest NYSE breadth day since the panic on August 5. Sector leadership (if you can call it that) was provided by defensive Staples (+0.5%) and Healthcare (+0.4%). Seven sectors saw losses of less than 0.4%. Energy was the big loser, giving up 2.6% as WTI fell back to the $73 region and close to the lows seen in early August. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) McClellan Oscillator (market breadth indicator) has traced out a breadth thrust as the oscillator jumped to +90 from -76 in 10 trading days. The indicator also went from below its lower Bollinger Band to above its upper band. We saw a similar combination of moves back in October/November 2023, just when the QQQ sta