Bracing for Fed's upcoming decision
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Good morning. Today is Monday, May 5th, and I'm Rena Sherbel filling in for Julie Morgan. Our

Our top stories today. Investors brace for Fed's upcoming decision, Taiwan dollar surges and Tyson Foods skips mention of tariff pressures. Our top story today. Stock index futures were in the red on Monday as investors turned their focus to the Federal Reserve's rate cut decision slated to come this week.

S&P 500 futures are down 0.9%, NASDAQ 100 futures also down 0.9%, and Dow futures down 0.7%. The 10-year Treasury yield was flat at 4.3%, and the two-year fell two basis points to 3.8%. Wall Street on Friday posted its longest daily win streak in over two decades.

further signs of thawing on trade between the U.S. and China, along with a stronger-than-expected jobs report buoyed sentiment. The Fed will release its interest rate decision on Wednesday. The decision comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has been urging for lower rates. Trump had, however, said he doesn't have any intention of removing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, even as he continues to publicly criticize Powell over interest rate policy.

The Fed is widely expected to maintain current interest rates during its policy meeting this week in Washington. As investors await Wednesday's policy decision by the Fed, there is little expectation of a rate change. Preliminary April employment data showed reasonable strength, although some areas of job growth, for example trucking, are clearly vulnerable as import volumes slow. So said UBS's Paul Donovan.

On tariffs, Trump announced a sweeping 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the U.S., citing the need to protect a dying American film industry. The Taiwan dollar jumped 8% against the U.S. dollar in two days, an unprecedented surge and another sign that investor demand for the U.S. dollar is weakening amid the trade turmoil triggered by 2020.

by tariffs President Trump announced on April 2nd. Trade, of course, is crucial to Taiwan, the dominant exporter of high-end computer chips to both China and the U.S. A stronger Taiwan dollar makes the island's products more expensive for U.S. importers, but makes U.S. exports to Taiwan less expensive. On April 2nd, Trump announced a 32% tariff on Taiwanese goods.

At the same time, global investors are looking to other currencies as an alternative to the U.S. dollar, the global reserve currency that has long been seen as a so-called safe haven. In the past month, the Taiwan dollar has climbed 23 percent against the U.S. dollar.

the U.S. dollar. The move in the Taiwan dollar followed the end of trade talks between the U.S. and Taiwan, Reuters reported. The sudden strength is seen as occurring with the tacit approval of its central bank, the report said. Taiwan's central bank said on Monday that the U.S. hasn't pressured Taiwan to boost the value of its dollar. Rather, it attributed the volatility to foreign fund inflows and companies' expectations of a stronger Taiwan dollar or

according to the Reuters report. The markets, however, see it differently. Hot money is coming into Taiwan and the central bank is allowing it, one Taiwanese financial industry executive told Reuters. Many are saying that's due to pressure from the U.S. I would say that must be the case.

In another sign of Taiwan strengthening amid the trade turmoil, the iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF, EWT, gained 5.1% in the past month compared with the S&P 500's 0.3% increase.

Tyson Foods said it delivered another solid quarter with growth in both sales and adjusted operating income driven by strong execution across the business. The company highlighted that its consistent focus on operational excellence, winning with customer and consumers, leveraging data and digital, and enhancing its financial strength has now resulted in four consecutive quarters of year-over-year improvements in the company's top and adjusted bottom lines.

Notably, Tyson Foods did not mention tariffs or economic pressures with its earnings update. Capital expenditures were noted to include investments in profit improvement projects as well as projects for maintenance and repair. Shares of Tyson Foods fell 2.3% in pre-market action. In other news, as we mentioned on Wall Street Brunch yesterday, big announcement shook the financial world over the weekend as investing legend Warren Buffett announced he would step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

Oil fell on OPEC Plus output boost. Saudis threaten more hikes. And companies reporting today include Palantir and Ford.

Thanks so much for listening and have a great week. That's all for today's Wall Street Lunch. Look for links for stories in the show notes section. Don't forget, these episodes will be up with transcriptions at SeekingAlpha.com slash WSB. And join the highest level discussion of any stock or ETF with our community of serious investors like you. Find us at SeekingAlpha.com slash subscriptions.