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Markets performed well again today — the third-straight up day for the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq since Monday’s deep sell-off — though closed off the session highs. The Dow gained +0.98%, +337 points (it was +558 points at its high), while the S&P 500 was +0.83% to close a hair beneath 4400, and the Nasdaq grew 152 points, or +1.05%. The small-cap Russell 2000 beat the field, garnering +1.59% in regular trading.
The Dow is now within 2% of its all-time highs, not seen since mid-August. The early days of September brought the latest all-time highs in the S&P, which is now 3% off those highs. The Nasdaq, which took the biggest hit during the most-recent sell-off, is now within 5% of its all-time highs set September 7th. The S&P leads the major indexes year to date, +19%, followed by the Nasdaq and then the Dow, both around +15%.
New Consumer Credit numbers for August were released earlier this afternoon, with results notably below expectations: $14.4 billion is a big step down from the upwardly revised $17.3 billion we saw for July — and another world removed from June’s whopping $38.2 billion. This amounts to a 4% increase month over month — the slowest since January — due partially to a slowdown in auto sales. (Although we saw good September sales numbers for General Motors (GM - Free Report) and Ford (F - Free Report) earlier today.)
Market participants may have been keeping some powder dry today, however, ahead of tomorrow’s big Employment Situation report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Recall a month ago when August jobs numbers came in drastically light of estimates. For tomorrow, an even 500K new jobs were expected to have been created last month. The Unemployment Rate is expected to tick down to a fresh post-Covid low 5.1%. But the proof will be in the pudding.
So we’ve now had the 5% sell-off, we’ve fought through what looks to be the biggest challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, we see the Fed taking its time tapering asset purchases but finally facing that direction. What besides a new jobs report is there to focus on? Earnings. Although we’ve seen results already this cycle from companies like FedEx (FDX - Free Report) and Nike (NKE - Free Report) , late next week brings us the big banks like JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) .
Supply chain issues will be key this earnings season, likely as much so as low base comparisons to a year ago were for the fantastic Q2. Thus, we expect peak earnings to be in our rearview mirror at this point; that said, positive earnings surprises (which we have not seen so far from FedEx or Nike) could bolster markets through the end of the year. Supply chains have already been at least partly priced-into valuations. Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
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Markets Up 3rd Day in a Row
Markets performed well again today — the third-straight up day for the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq since Monday’s deep sell-off — though closed off the session highs. The Dow gained +0.98%, +337 points (it was +558 points at its high), while the S&P 500 was +0.83% to close a hair beneath 4400, and the Nasdaq grew 152 points, or +1.05%. The small-cap Russell 2000 beat the field, garnering +1.59% in regular trading.
The Dow is now within 2% of its all-time highs, not seen since mid-August. The early days of September brought the latest all-time highs in the S&P, which is now 3% off those highs. The Nasdaq, which took the biggest hit during the most-recent sell-off, is now within 5% of its all-time highs set September 7th. The S&P leads the major indexes year to date, +19%, followed by the Nasdaq and then the Dow, both around +15%.
New Consumer Credit numbers for August were released earlier this afternoon, with results notably below expectations: $14.4 billion is a big step down from the upwardly revised $17.3 billion we saw for July — and another world removed from June’s whopping $38.2 billion. This amounts to a 4% increase month over month — the slowest since January — due partially to a slowdown in auto sales. (Although we saw good September sales numbers for General Motors (GM - Free Report) and Ford (F - Free Report) earlier today.)
Market participants may have been keeping some powder dry today, however, ahead of tomorrow’s big Employment Situation report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Recall a month ago when August jobs numbers came in drastically light of estimates. For tomorrow, an even 500K new jobs were expected to have been created last month. The Unemployment Rate is expected to tick down to a fresh post-Covid low 5.1%. But the proof will be in the pudding.
So we’ve now had the 5% sell-off, we’ve fought through what looks to be the biggest challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, we see the Fed taking its time tapering asset purchases but finally facing that direction. What besides a new jobs report is there to focus on? Earnings. Although we’ve seen results already this cycle from companies like FedEx (FDX - Free Report) and Nike (NKE - Free Report) , late next week brings us the big banks like JPMorgan (JPM - Free Report) .
Supply chain issues will be key this earnings season, likely as much so as low base comparisons to a year ago were for the fantastic Q2. Thus, we expect peak earnings to be in our rearview mirror at this point; that said, positive earnings surprises (which we have not seen so far from FedEx or Nike) could bolster markets through the end of the year. Supply chains have already been at least partly priced-into valuations.
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>