Ahead of the Fed/The DEA pivot/Further mixed economy confirmation from companies themselves

The FOMC statement will most likely be identical to the one given in March but with the tweak in wording about the QT tapering in terms of monthly Treasury drawdowns. I assume when Powell said "fairly soon" at the March meeting with respect to this announcement, meant today. Powell at his presser though is where the potential verbal action takes place as we know but he's sort of trapped into a stand down approach with regards to shifting policy as whatever confidence he was hoping to see with the inflation stats, he hasn't really gotten more of it since the March meeting. 

One of my 3 contrarian calls this year was to buy cannabis stocks, mentioned here in January, in anticipation of a rescheduling of cannabis which would basically eliminate the federal regulations inhibiting access to banking services and would allow normal expensing of all business expenses which will lead to a big bump in cash flow. Well, in case you missed it, that is now going to happen according to the news seen yesterday, with a process to the finish line to begin from here. At yesterday's close, the MSOS etf is up 29% since when I mentioned it. 

A slew of earnings calls to go thru and I hope you find the company commentary helpful. And I will say AGAIN, what I'm reading here is a really mixed economic situation. 

From Amazon:

"We remain focused on making sure we're offering everyday low prices, which we know is even more important to our customers in this uncertain economic environment. As the results show, customers are shopping but remain cautious, trading down on price when they can, and seeking out deals."

"As part of our guidance considerations, we also continue to keep any eye on consumer spending and macro level trends, especially in Europe, where it appears to be a bit weaker relative to the US."

With AWS, "companies have largely completed the lion's share of their cost optimization, and turned their attention to newer initiatives." Of course they too are benefiting from massive AI spend. 

From McDonald's:

"As I reflect on the first quarter of the year, it is clear that broad based consumer pressures persist around the world. Consumers continue to be even more discriminating with every dollar that they spend as they face elevated prices in their day-to-day spending, which is putting pressure on the QSR industry."

"It's worth noting that in Q1, industry traffic was flat to declining in the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the UK. And across almost all major markets, industry traffic is slowing. In the context of a difficult macro environment for the industry, we know our customers are looking for reliable, everyday value now more than ever."