Following the record highs set by the NASDAQ composite and S&P 500 on Friday, equities took a bit of a breather at the start of the week. As we approached the new trading day, stock futures were pointing to a down open. Overnight, markets in Asia mostly lost ground. Meanwhile, the major European indexes are showing modest losses. Elsewhere, oil prices have moved lower, with West Texas Intermediate down about 1.4%, to around $77.65 a barrel.
This morning, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for February, which measures activity in the services sector. Wall Street is calling for a downtick, to around 52.9%, versus the 53.4% registered in January. (Readings above 50% denote expansion, while those below 50% indicate contraction.) If correct, it would mark the 14th consecutive month of growth.
For the remainder of the week, economic reports will be largely focused on employment figures. Wednesday morning brings ADP’s Nonfarm Employment Report for last month. The consensus is calling for the payroll data to show the private sector added 145,000 positions, up from the 107,000 tabulated for January. That same day, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the results from its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for January. Prognosticators are calling for the number of available positions to come in around 8.895 million, down from 9.026 million in December.
On Thursday, the Department of Labor will release its tallies for Initial Jobless Claims for last week, which are widely expected to come in around 212,000, compared to 215,000 the week before. This will be followed up on Friday with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report on nonfarm payrolls for February. The consensus is calling for a sharp drop to around 190,000 new positions, versus the 353,000 that were added the month before. Additionally, the unemployment rate is pegged to remain steady, at 3.7%, while analysts look for the month-to-month rise in average hourly earnings to moderate to about 0.2%, compared to 0.6% in January.
Summing up Monday’s moves for the major indexes, the Dow Jones Industrials fell 97 points, or 0.3%, the S&P 500 slipped six points (0.1%), and the tech-laden NASDAQ dropped 67 points (0.4%). – Mario Ferro
At the time of this article’s writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.
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