Happy Tuesday, traders.

Jeff here.

This week will be dominated by one event and one event only — the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

Traders worldwide are patiently waiting, wondering how the Fed will act and what Chairman Powell will say in his press conference. 

The big question is still regarding when the Fed will cut interest rates.

And all of this is leading to an unbelievable setup for the Burn Notice Alliance. 

It’s working out perfectly to have this huge power move on Monday on the back of some overselling on Friday.

These swings are creating exactly the type of volatility that I look for in Burn Notice setups.

All this to say, I think this week could be a big one for traders who thrive on volatility. 

Here’s how I’m playing it…

The Apple/Google Deal

Early Monday morning, we got the news that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is planning to license Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Gemini AI for iPhones.

The market got all excited about this deal, sending GOOG shares soaring 7% and AAPL stock up 2%.

But to me, there’s a more important subtext to this news — it’s a potential death knell for AAPL.

Ever since Steve Jobs passed away, AAPL has been struggling to innovate. Unlike Jobs, current CEO Tim Cook is a businessman — not a creative genius. 

Bottom Line: AAPL can’t make their own “big-boy” technology anymore, so they’re letting GOOG into the henhouse. It’s crazy.

Over the past decade, AAPL has been battling for intellectual property, for the cloud, and for anything and everything under the sun…

And now, AAPL is gonna outsource its AI to one of its biggest competitors. This sounds bad to me, like it can’t develop anything anymore.

But the stock still went up. In this market, everyone thinks you should just “buy.” Until the trend inevitably reverses…

Considering this, I think we might see a little bearish hangover in AAPL in the coming days.

Trade accordingly.

8 Items to Focus On During the FOMC Meeting

But now, we’ve gotta turn to the biggest event of the week — the FOMC meeting.

The FOMC plays a pivotal role in the U.S. economy by setting monetary policy, which directly impacts interest rates and has broader implications for financial markets. 

The meeting runs through Wednesday, and then Chairman Powell will give a press conference on Thursday.

When approaching FOMC meetings, there are eight key items you should pay attention to:

Interest Rate Decisions

• Focus on decisions regarding the federal funds rate: raise, lower, or maintain.
• Changes affect borrowing costs, consumer spending, and stock prices.

Policy Statements

• Provide insights into the FOMC’s economic outlook: inflation, employment, and growth.
• Changes in language or tone can hint at future policies.

Economic Projections

• Quarterly projections on GDP growth, unemployment, and inflation.
• Critical for understanding future economic expectations.

Dot Plot

• Shows FOMC members’ expectations for the federal funds rate over time.
• Helps predict the future of interest rates.

Press Conference

• Federal Reserve Chair Powell’ss speech and the following Q&A session offer deep insights.
• WARNING: The market can be very volatile during the Q&A — trade with caution.

Meeting Minutes

• Detailed account of discussions, showing the range of views and decision considerations.

Forward Guidance

• Communication on future monetary policy intentions.
• Indications on interest rate directions are closely monitored.

Balance Sheet Policy

• Actions like quantitative easing influence economic conditions.
• Look for hints about changes to the Fed’s balance sheet policy.

My Predictions for the FOMC Meeting

As important as this meeting is, I still don’t think the Fed is gonna do much. 

They’re not going to lower interest rates, but they’re gonna talk a lot and the market will move on the back of that. 

We need to turn to recent history to get an idea of what might happen this week…

The last FOMC meeting was on January 31 and we saw the biggest single-day candle of the year that day.

But that record only held for a day. The following day, the market had a big sell-off in the afternoon, which was the new biggest candle.

Then, stocks rebounded over the next couple of days. I’m expecting similar price action this week.

So I like the setup with the market rally Monday, maybe down today, down Wednesday on the Fed news, then rally back after that.

That’s what I’m predicting and how I’m playing it.

Naturally, I’m still keeping an eye on market leader Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA), which is currently stuck at $900.

The market doesn’t know what to do with NVDA, but a recent catalyst could cause volatility in the name…

Yesterday, the company held its annual Nvidia GPU Technology Conference, and the stock was chopping back and forth.

Watch NVDA this week to see if we get a delayed reaction to the conference. 

Yesterday, I saw some big intraday moves in individual names, but the markets are getting kind of choppy here — it doesn’t want to follow through.

Overall, I’m expecting up-and-down price action with major volatility this week.

So we’ll see what the Fed gives us, then try to follow through with that price action for a few days.

Happy trading,

Jeff Zananiri

P.S. Most retail traders approach major catalysts (like the FOMC meeting) all wrong.

But I’ve got decades of experience trading these sorts of catalysts (and we only scratched the tip of the iceberg today)…

So, if you’re looking for professional insight into making the most of this big Fed week, you’re in luck:

TOMORROW, March 20 at 12:00 pm ET, I’m going LIVE to share exactly how I’m planning to capitalize on this pivotal moment for the market.

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

*Past performance does not indicate future results