• Fed rate decision, Powell comments, bank crisis developments will drive markets in the week ahead.
• Nvidia stock is set to shine amid AI buzz ahead of ‘GTC 2023’ event.
• ExxonMobil shares likely to underperform amid tumbling energy prices.

Stocks on Wall Street tumbled on Friday to end a tumultuous week dominated by worsening fears over the health of the U.S. banking sector. Those concerns have spread to Europe, as embattled Swiss lender Credit Suisse (NYSE:) fights for its survival.

Despite Friday’s decline, the benchmark , and the tech-heavy both managed to score weekly gains of +1.4% and +4.4% respectively as investors bid up growth stocks due to a sharp decline in Treasury yields amid diminished expectations for further Fed rate hikes.

Meanwhile, the blue-chip ended the week down -0.2%. The small-cap lost -2.7% after diving 8.4% in the prior week.

The week ahead will surely be an eventful one as the U.S. central bank’s monetary policy-setting committee holds a crucial two-day meeting concluding on Wednesday. As of Sunday morning, futures trading implies a 62% probability of a 25-basis point rate hike and a 38% chance of no hike at all, according to ’s .

The odds for a 50-point move are now effectively off the table after being a betting favorite just a few weeks ago amid the recent signs of turmoil in the banking sector.

Fed Chair will be in focus as investors ramp up bets the U.S. central bank will pause its tightening cycle and even cut rates by the end of the year due to fresh uncertainties around the health of U.S. banks.

Outside of the Fed drama, investors will continue to be fixated on developments surrounding the banking turmoil on both sides of the Atlantic amid fears over a global banking crisis.

Meanwhile, on the economic calendar, most important will be reports on , , and .

Elsewhere, on the earnings docket, there are just a handful of corporate results due, including Nike (NYSE:), Foot Locker (NYSE:), GameStop (NYSE:), and General Mills (NYSE:).

Regardless of which direction the market goes, below I highlight one stock likely to be in demand and another which could see further downside.

Remember though, my timeframe is just for the week ahead, March 20-24.

Stock To Buy: Nvidia

I expect Nvidia's (NASDAQ:) stock to extend its march higher in the week ahead as the tech giant hosts its highly anticipated ‘GTC 2023’ event, at which it is likely to show off its latest advancements in generative AI, the metaverse, cloud computing, large language models, robotics, and more.

The four-day annual conference kicks off on Monday, March 20, and will end on Thursday, March 23, and will be broadcast live on the Nvidia website.

Most of the spotlight will fall on CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech scheduled for Tuesday at 8:00 AM PDT/11:00 AM EST. According to the description, Huang will share how emerging trends and innovations, such as the power of modern artificial intelligence, deep learning, and accelerated computing, are driving transformation in the tech industry.