Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Manufacturing, Jobs, Google Q4 Data On Deck

Read MoreHide Full Article

Monday, February 3, 2020

There is a big week on tap for market participants, from key economic data to the busiest week yet of Q4 earnings season. This is in addition to the continuing coronavirus crisis — currently at 360 fatalities with over 17K confirmed cases — and Election 2020 coming into focus with the Iowa caucuses today. That said, most of the information we seek we will need to wait for.

Later this morning, two important manufacturing metrics for January hit the tape: PMI and ISM. While PMI the previous month landed above 50 at 51.7, ISM sank to 47.2% in December. Expectations for January’s ISM headline are for slightly better results, 48.5%, but still in recessive territory.

Construction Spending for December will also be out later this morning, with expectations in-line with the previous month’s +0.6% headline. We haven’t seen a negative print on Construction Spending since may and June of last year, though October came close when it posted +0.1%.

Also, both ADP (ADP - Free Report) private sector payrolls and non-farm payrolls from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will report this week, on Wednesday and Friday morning, respectively. For December, ADP reported 202K new private-sector jobs created, while BLS posted 145K, with a trailing 3-month average of 184K new jobs. These are terrific numbers this deep into our employment boom, with the Unemployment Rate expected to remain steady at 3.5% — historically low.

Finally, Alphabet (GOOGL - Free Report) reports Q4 earnings after today’s closing bell. the Zacks Rank #2 (Buy)-rated company missed earnings estimates in its previous quarter — its third such miss in the past 12 quarters — but averages an 8% positive surprise over the past four quarters. Expectations are for $12.76 per share on $38.44 billion in quarterly revenues.

Analysts will be paying close attention to its cloud business growth, especially after last week’s Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) report posted 62% growth in its Azure cloud segment. Shares of the search giant are up 4.7% year to date, but are off their all-time highs struck just a couple weeks ago.

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>

Free: Zacks’ Single Best Stock Set to Double

Today you are invited to download our latest Special Report that reveals 5 stocks with the most potential to gain +100% or more in 2020. From those 5, Zacks Director of Research, Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

This pioneering tech ticker had soared to all-time highs and then subsided to a price that is irresistible. Now a pending acquisition could super-charge the company’s drive past competitors in the development of true Artificial Intelligence. The earlier you get in to this stock, the greater your potential gain.

See 5 Stocks Set to Double>>


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) - free report >>

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) - free report >>

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) - free report >>

Published in