We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
We see green across the board in today’s pre-market session, but we should be prepared for a head-fake during the trading day, like we saw following a green pre-market yesterday — especially with as much important data as we have coming out after the opening bell. The Dow is +115 points at this hour, the S&P 500 is +20 and the Nasdaq trades +75 points currently.
Three economic reports are due out after the opening bell, in three distinct aspects: Manufacturing, Employment and the Fed. First, ISM Manufacturing for December is expected to remain below the 50% threshold that determines expansion from contraction. Consensus of 48.5% is also below the November print of 49.0%, which was the first sub-50% read since the pandemic.
Also, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report for November comes out around the same time, 10am ET. For job openings, these are expected to pull back further, from 10.3 million posted the previous month to 10.1 million today. We’re well off the nearly 12 million job openings we saw back in March of 2022, and this is a good thing — job openings are inflationary. It will mark the fourth straight month below 11 million vacant jobs, and we’re looking at data two months in arrears here.
Job Quits, the other side of the JOLTS data series, posted 4.3 million back in October, or 2.6% overall. This is the lowest print we’ve yet seen since the first half of 2021; a year ago, we were looking at 3% of the American workforce actively leaving their jobs. That was high, but back then it was still being affected by pandemic conditions. Again, we want to see these numbers continue downward.
Finally, at 2pm ET today, minutes from the December 13-14 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will be released. This meeting saw the first lower Fed funds rate hike in five months — 50 bps, instead of the previous 75. This signals the end of rate hikes in sight (somewhere), and brought us to our highest interest rate levels in 15 years. Today’s minutes will parse the opinions of voting Fed members much more fine; there will be new forecasts about what the Fed will do at its next meeting (in four weeks) based on what these minutes spell.
The latest major tech firm to announce substantial layoffs today is Salesforce.com (CRM - Free Report) , which announced a 10% cut to its workforce ahead. CEO Mark Benioff, blaming himself for his company’s current predicament, called the environment “challenging,” and has decided to make this move many analysts were expecting. This could mean as many as 8000 Salesforce employees; shares are up +5% on this new in early trading.
Image: Bigstock
Pre-Markets Try Again for Positive Session
Wednesday, January 4th, 2023
We see green across the board in today’s pre-market session, but we should be prepared for a head-fake during the trading day, like we saw following a green pre-market yesterday — especially with as much important data as we have coming out after the opening bell. The Dow is +115 points at this hour, the S&P 500 is +20 and the Nasdaq trades +75 points currently.
Three economic reports are due out after the opening bell, in three distinct aspects: Manufacturing, Employment and the Fed. First, ISM Manufacturing for December is expected to remain below the 50% threshold that determines expansion from contraction. Consensus of 48.5% is also below the November print of 49.0%, which was the first sub-50% read since the pandemic.
Also, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report for November comes out around the same time, 10am ET. For job openings, these are expected to pull back further, from 10.3 million posted the previous month to 10.1 million today. We’re well off the nearly 12 million job openings we saw back in March of 2022, and this is a good thing — job openings are inflationary. It will mark the fourth straight month below 11 million vacant jobs, and we’re looking at data two months in arrears here.
Job Quits, the other side of the JOLTS data series, posted 4.3 million back in October, or 2.6% overall. This is the lowest print we’ve yet seen since the first half of 2021; a year ago, we were looking at 3% of the American workforce actively leaving their jobs. That was high, but back then it was still being affected by pandemic conditions. Again, we want to see these numbers continue downward.
Finally, at 2pm ET today, minutes from the December 13-14 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will be released. This meeting saw the first lower Fed funds rate hike in five months — 50 bps, instead of the previous 75. This signals the end of rate hikes in sight (somewhere), and brought us to our highest interest rate levels in 15 years. Today’s minutes will parse the opinions of voting Fed members much more fine; there will be new forecasts about what the Fed will do at its next meeting (in four weeks) based on what these minutes spell.
The latest major tech firm to announce substantial layoffs today is Salesforce.com (CRM - Free Report) , which announced a 10% cut to its workforce ahead. CEO Mark Benioff, blaming himself for his company’s current predicament, called the environment “challenging,” and has decided to make this move many analysts were expecting. This could mean as many as 8000 Salesforce employees; shares are up +5% on this new in early trading.
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>