Wall Street Today | Now THAT's a Pullback
RECAP
The market opened higher on Thursday but suddenly dropped like a rock. After 1:30 p.m. EST, the market pulled back hard. Suddenly, the number of equities in the red caught up to equities in the green, about 8,100 equities fell compared to 5,000, still climbing.
The $S&P 500 Index fell 1.23% at the time of writing. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.35, and the $Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.35%.
MACRO
Labor Market as Inflation Gauge
Thursday morning, Initial U.S. Jobless claims came in a little higher, up 9k to 221,000 for the week that ended March 30. Economists expected 214k. Layoffs increased to a 14-month high in March. Tomorrow, investors are waiting for the U.S. job report.
According to MarketWatch, the economy is forecast to gain 200,000 new jobs in March, down from a preliminary 275,000 in the prior month. Job creation has slowed since last year, and fewer companies are hiring, but employment is still increasing faster than the historical average.
Until recently, Wall Street economists estimated that the U.S. only needed to add 100,000 new jobs a month to keep up with the labor force's growth and contain inflation. Yet an influx of immigrants has raised questions about whether that estimate is too low.
Fed Speakers Spoke Caution
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Thursday that he's penciled in two interest-rate cuts this year if the economy develops as he expects but added that progress on inflation has stalled. It's possible the central bank might not cut rates in 2024 at all.
"If we continue to see inflation moving sideways, it would make me question whether we needed to do those rate cuts at all," Kashkari said.
The president of the Richmond Federal Reserve said it would be "smart for the Fed to take our time" before lowering interest rates in light of the elevated inflation readings in early 2024.
SECTORS
As the market collapsed into the red, the Semiconductor sector fell the furthest as tracked by moomoo. $GCT Semiconductor Holding(GCTS.US$ (-14%) and $Advanced Micro Devices(AMD.US$ (-7%) led the pack.
Oil has been on a tear this past week, hitting the highest prices in five months Wednesday. The commodity climbed after the market sank Thursday. On Wednesday, OPEC+ held a ministerial meeting that ended without changes to the cartel's production policy. The cartel stuck to voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day.
Spot Gold also hit an all-time high Wednesday and continues to trade at $2,309 Thursday.
MOOVERS
Stock Gains? It's in the Jeans
$Levi Strauss & Co.(LEVI.US$ Shares surged 12% after the company exceeded first-quarter expectations for both revenue and earnings and raised its full-year profit forecast.
Moon Mission #2?
$Intuitive Machines(LUNR.US$ rocketed by nearly 11% in the morning after securing a $30 million NASA contract to build a lunar terrain vehicle for the Artemis moon campaign. The stock quickly returned to earth, sitting at -0.84%
BlackBerry Had a Good Year
$BlackBerry(BB.US$shares are trading higher after it reported fourth-quarter FY24 results. Revenue of $173 million came better than $151 million a year ago, beating the consensus of $154.8 million. $Paramount Global-A
Paramount Deal a Disappointment
$Paramount Global-B(PARA.US$ fell 8%, after it entered into exclusive merger talks with Skydance Media. This decision comes at the expense of a $26 billion offer from $Apollo Global Management (APO.US)$.
HubSpot Stock Spikes ~6% on Report Google Might Bid
$HubSpot(HUBS.US$ shares are trading sharply higher on a report that the company is in talks to be acquired by Alphabet, Google's parent.
Bad time For French Fries
$Lamb Weston(LW.US$'s stock was down by 19% on Thursday, headed toward its largest one-day loss on record, after the potato-processing company blamed a slower-than-expected switch to a new software system for impacting its third-quarter results. The stock also was the worst performer among S&P 500 SPX components.
Mooers, what are you watching?
Source: Bloomberg, Dow Jones, CNBC, Reuters
Disclaimer: This presentation is for informational and educational use only and is not a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy. Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be directly invested in. Past performance is no indication of future results. Investing involves risk and the potential to lose principal. Investment information provided in this content is general in nature, strictly for illustrative purposes, and may not be appropriate for all investors. It is provided without respect to individual investors’ financial sophistication, financial situation, investment objectives, investing time horizon, or risk tolerance. You should consider the appropriateness of this information regarding your relevant personal circumstances before making any investment decisions. Past investment performance does not indicate or guarantee future success. Returns will vary, and all investments carry risks, including loss of principal. Moomoo makes no representation or warranty regarding its adequacy, completeness, accuracy, or timeliness for any purpose of the above content. See thislinkfor more information.
Disclaimer: This presentation is for informational and educational use only and is not a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy. Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be directly invested in. Past performance is no indication of future results. Investing involves risk and the potential to lose principal. Investment information provided in this content is general in nature, strictly for illustrative purposes, and may not be appropriate for all investors. It is provided without respect to individual investors’ financial sophistication, financial situation, investment objectives, investing time horizon, or risk tolerance. You should consider the appropriateness of this information regarding your relevant personal circumstances before making any investment decisions. Past investment performance does not indicate or guarantee future success. Returns will vary, and all investments carry risks, including loss of principal. Moomoo makes no representation or warranty regarding its adequacy, completeness, accuracy, or timeliness for any purpose of the above content. See thislinkfor more information.
Disclaimer: Moomoo Technologies Inc. is providing this content for information and educational use only.
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In 10 minutes it’s history. At four I’m a dinosaur!
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RDK79 : So… according to the experts there could by 0, 1, or maybe 2 cuts in ‘24. Or, maybe even an increase…. Where is that job application website..
Kevin Travers RDK79: Why not 1, 2, AND 3?
Elguee : Hi
RIPPER : Beautiful today…….for whatever reason, I feel I’m better trading charts short than long.
THEWIZARD : A deeper pullback than this, should be necessary.
Ya Animal : Interesting insight.
RDK79 RDK79: and there you go… Fed idiot had to get some ink… PS, someone should let her know inflation isn’t high. But she’s a chaos supporter I guess :)
‘Fed Governor Bowman says additional rate hike could be needed if inflation stays high’.
And obtw I guess according to Reuters and the idiot reporter, Tesla is canceling their new model, which em says is bs!