Hennion & Walsh CIO Kevin Mahn sits down in-studio with Josh Lipton and Josh Schafer on Market Domination ahead of Wednesday’s expected interest rate cut, discussing why the utilities sector (XLU) stands out in a changing rate environment. Utilities are “generally known for paying attractive dividend yields" and as interest rates come down, “these high dividend paying stocks are going to look a lot more attractive,” Mahn says. The sector has “also historically have a very defensive nature" which could help weather near-term volatility brought on by not only the 2024 presidential election and the "Fed guessing game." Mahn tells Yahoo Finance that the utility sector is "a backdoor play into the AI revolution" due to the intense power demands of data centers. He highlights Southern Company (SO), Sempra Energy (SRE), and NiSource (NI) as stocks within the sector that could benefit. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination. This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.

Silver has outperformed gold this year, but the second-fiddle metal has even more upside potential based on two key factors.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported home builder confidence to have risen to a print of 41 in September, up from August's reading of 39. Mortgage rates, also, continued to cool to 6.2%, declining their lowest levels since February 2023. Josh Lipton and Josh Schafer bring National Association of Home Builders CEO Jim Tobin onto Market Domination to talk about the signals the Federal Reserve is sending to the US housing market as the central bank continues to cut interest rates for the first time in four years this week. The Fed's rate narrative "does translate into almost a one-for-one cut in those construction loans that our members use in order to buy and improve land and start projects. So that's really what the Fed means for homebuilding in the short term," Tobin explains. He touches on the latest economic proposals hinted at by presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and why the focus should remain on the supply side of the housing market. "The days of 3 or 4% mortgages are gone, I'm afraid. So what we need to do is get this whole generation of buyers to recognize that 5.5% is still really cheap money, historically, when it comes to mortgage rates," Tobin says. "And it's going to be a great time to buy your home. For those who bought earlier in the last couple of years, it's going to be an opportunity for them to refi [refinance]." For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Prospective homebuyers are looking to the highly-anticipated interest rate cuts as a re-entry point back into the housing market. The coming of interest rate easements are believed to be a factor that could also cool mortgage rates. Bank of America head of consumer lending Matt Vernon joins Wealth! to give his assessment of the current US housing market, along with tips for prospective homebuyers who may decide now is the time to start looking. Vernon explains that the best time to buy is when the consumer is ready, both financially and emotionally, explaining that attempting to time the market is "never a good thing." Vernon goes on to advise homebuyers to be flexible and they should be open to various home sizes and locations when entering the market. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth! This post was written by Jeremy Moses.

The Home Builder Confidence Index rose to 41 in September, up from August's reading of 39. The latest print from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) came in line with expectations as mortgage rates continue to cool to 19-month lows. Catalysts anchor Seana Smith breaks down the data and what interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve could mean for the homebuilder category. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

VNQ, ITB, XLY, IWM and GLD are included in this Analyst Blog.

Tuesday's retail sales report serves as one of the final economic data points as the Federal Reserve mulls how much it will cut interest rates on Wednesday.

Investors' confidence in a soft landing is growing as markets eye the first interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve since 2020.

The ETF industry is continuing to grow with net inflows of $66.3 billion in August.

On today's episode of Asking for a Trend, Host Josh Lipton breaks down some of the top stories and trends from the trading day. Investors are all but certain the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its September meeting on Wednesday. But the question of by how much — 25 or 50 basis points — has been hotly debated. Wall Street Journal Chief Economics Commentator and Deputy Economics Editor Greg Ip lays out the case for a half-point cut, explaining, "It all starts out by looking at where rates are now," Ip says, noting that the current target rate of 5.25%-5.50% is the highest in 20 years. Rates were initially pushed that high because of sticky, elevated inflation. But in recent months, inflation has cooled considerably. The major indexes (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC) closed Monday mixed after disappointing iPhone 16 pre-order numbers caused Apple (AAPL) to slip and pull the Nasdaq down along with it. Yahoo Finance senior reporter Jared Blikre analyzes the day’s top market movements, including the surge in cyclical sectors such as utilities (XLU), the weight of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later this week, and September's seasonality trends. TikTok spent Monday in court in the first day of its trial arguing against the US bill that could see the popular social media app banned in the United States if parent company ByteDance doesn't sell the platform to a non-Chinese entity. Axios Business Editor Dan Primack explains that the judge in the case was "fairly skeptical of TikTok's arguments," adding, "But what's important to note is the President of the United States does not have to ban it if there's not a divestiture, it gives the president the option to ban it. You've already got Donald Trump saying he would not ban TikTok." Intel (INTC) and Amazon (AMZN) Web Services announced a co-investment in custom chip designs in a multibillion, multi-year strategic collaboration. Creative Strategies CEO and principal analyst Ben Baron explains that Intel has won a large customer in AWS, saying, "there's positive momentum there in terms of getting foundry wins." He believes that Intel is ultimately setting the stage to split into two companies: Intel and an Intel foundry. He believes that having an Intel Foundry subsidiary is "essentially as close as you can get to putting the right kind of walls and guardrails around Intel Foundry so that other customers can come in and feel comfortable knowing that they'll have capacity wafer allocation." This post was written by Melanie Riehl