The week ahead

Today is the 77th day of the year. March is more than half-done. Q1 is 85% complete. The PSEi is stacking small wins, but (so far) has been unable to break through resistance at 6,400. Gold is trading at an all-time high. We are two weeks away from a scheduled escalation in Trump's trade war with various countries.

> PH:  We started the week yesterday with Top Line [TOP] pricing its revamped IPO. The week ends on Friday with the payment of the AREIT [AREIT] Q4 dividend.

> International:  Early Thursday morning, the US Federal Reserve will decide on what to do with US interest rates. 

  MB BOTTOM-LINE:  The quiet days are over for the PSE. The disclosures teasing Annual Reports have upticked, we’re getting a flurry of listing activity between TOP’s traditional IPO and MWIDE’s prefs sale, and—the cherry on top—we get another Trump 2.0-era Fed interest rate decision. The market isn’t strong. The action is in a small handful of speculative growth stocks and a wider array of defensive dividend plays. The overall stench of uncertainty still lingers. As is said quite often, we need a catalyst, which is just a fancy way of saying that we need something to spark a new wave of demand. I want the market to show me it’s serious before I stick my neck out. My stance is still defensive.

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