the techheavy nasdaq composite was leading stocks lower on monday kicking off a big week that features a federal reserve interestrate decision a jobs report and several key technologysector earnings reports stocks rose last week with the sp 500 and nasdaq ending friday at highs for the new year the sp 500 has rallied 6 in january and riskier plays such as the ark innovation etf arkk have done even better with cathie woods flagship fund up 29 in 2023 the nasdaq composite was shouldering the brunt of a cautious tone thats taken hold in markets as a big week for both corporate earnings and macroeconomic data kicks off the federal reserve interestrate decision will be coming wednesday and nonfarm payrolls are set for release on friday the fed is widely expected to deliver a 25basispoint rate increase downshifting from the outsize 50 and 75basispoint increases seen last year the fed has signaled rates will top 5 and stay there while markets have priced in cuts for the second half of 2023 setting up a potential clash monetary policy works with a lag and we will likely be feeling the influence of higher rates of 2022 well into 2023 said matthew miskin john hancock investment managements cochief investment strategist in emailed commentary on monday miskin also warned that stocks have advanced to start the year even through earnings estimates for the sp 500 have been falling causing the forward priceto earnings ratio to reach its highest since august at 1793x we see this valuation as a potential headwind and either looking for cheaper equity asset classes or fixed income options as attractive alternatives readthe fed and the stock market are on a collision course this week whats at stake over the weekend the wall street journal focused on fed staffers view of inflation and in particular their worries that jobmatching will remain inefficient which suggests price pressures could persist despite recent data showing a sharp decline in goods inflation seefour ways powell could tell markets the fed isnt ready to pivot seth carpenter chief global economist at morgan stanley told clients in a weekend note that he doesnt share those worries because of market concentration there are higher profit margins and therefore more room to let margins shrink after wage upswings combined with lower unionization rates compared with the 1980s all the information at hand simply points to a low probability that current wage inflation is a critical issue  even with services tech giants apple inc aapl alphabet inc googl and amazoncom inc amzn highlight a huge slate of corporate earnings reports this week tech stocks in particular have rallied this month as bond yields have eased also readcould big tech layoffs keep growing apple amazon facebook and google may give hints in biggest week of earnings the benchmark 10year treasury rate was edging higher above 35 on monday but off the roughly 42 high in october major central banks are set to hike policy rates again this week and keep them higher counter to market views for cuts this year a blackrock investment institute team led by wei li global chief investment strategist said in a monday client note we see this as disconnect resolving and favoring higher rates