FED CHAIR POWELL: DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST ARE ADDING TO ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY, WITH RISKS PRESENT ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FED'S DUAL MANDATE, EVEN AS CONSUMER SPENDING REMAINS RESILIENT.

Federal Reserve Chair Powell highlighted that escalating Middle East tensions are amplifying economic uncertainty, potentially affecting both inflation and employment—key components of the Fed’s dual mandate. The primary transmission channel is risk appetite, with heightened geopolitical risk prompting a reassessment of global supply chain stability and energy market disruptions, which could feed into broader inflationary pressures. Retail and consumer-sensitive equities are particularly exposed given their reliance on sustained spending momentum, which could falter if uncertainty dampens sentiment or lifts fuel prices. Meanwhile, safe-haven demand may benefit U.S. Treasuries and gold, especially if risk-off flows intensify. Traders will closely watch the next CPI release and retail sales data for signals on whether resilient consumer spending can withstand rising external shocks.

HIGH-impact news is typically a market-moving event with multi-pip or multi-percent intraday reactions. Examples include central bank rate decisions, major CPI/NFP releases, geopolitical shocks, mega-cap earnings beats/misses, and regulatory announcements. Traders typically position-reduce or hedge ahead of scheduled HIGH-impact events, and follow the wire in real time to react to unscheduled ones (war headlines, central-bank emergency statements, surprise corporate actions). The Trading News Terminal squawk box reads every HIGH-impact headline aloud the moment it hits the wire — so active traders don't have to stare at the feed.

Active traders typically follow a three-step workflow when a market-moving headline hits the wire: (1) read the headline on the terminal or hear it on the squawk box; (2) assess whether the news is already priced in (by checking intraday price action in the seconds before) or whether it's genuinely new information; (3) act — either entering a breakout position, fading an overreaction, or tightening stops on existing trades. Trading News Terminal's Pro plan delivers wire-grade headlines within seconds of the source, with automatic audio squawk on every HIGH-impact event, so the read-assess-act cycle never waits on a refresh button.