Stocks End Mixed As The Market Hits Pause Ahead Of This Week's Jobs Numbers Image: Bigstock The big three indexes closed mixed yesterday with the Dow and the S&P moderately lower, while the Nasdaq finished moderately higher. But Monday's outsized gains in the small-cap Russell 2000 and the mid-cap S&P 400 were undone yesterday as they were down -1.38% and -1.34% respectively. Yesterday's PMI Composite report came in at 50.7, unchanged from last month. The Services Index came in at 50.8, which was in line with the consensus, and up vs. last month's 50.6. The ISM Services Index rose to 52.7 vs. last month's 51.8 and views for 52.4. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report (or JOLTS for short) showed 8.733 million job openings for October vs. 9.350M for September and estimates for 9.4M. Today we'll get MBA Mortgage Applications, the International Trade in Goods and Services report, and the Productivity and Costs report. We'll also get another look at the labor market with the ADP Employment Report. They are forecasting 123,000 new private payroll jobs were created last month in November. This is often looked at as a precursor to the official Employment Situation report that follows two days later (on Friday) by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Although, it should be known that the ADP report has a spotty track record of predicting what the BLS report will say. Nonetheless, today's ADP report will be looked at closely. But Friday's Employment report by the BLS is the report everyone is waiting for. At the moment, the consensus is calling for 180,000 new jobs in November (150,000 in the private sector and 30,000 in the public). We'll see what today's ADP report says first. After Friday's jobs report, then the main event is next week's FOMC announcement on 12/13. Even though the Fed has said it's 'premature' to talk about cutting rates at this time, they previously estimated that they would cut by -50 basis points next year, while the market is pricing in -125 basis points. So all eyes will be on the Fed next week. In the meantime, the Q4 rally is intact (last couple of days notwithstanding). And the seasonal trends suggest there's still more to go in the remaining 3½ weeks left in the year. So make sure you're taking full advantage of it. See you tomorrow, Kevin Matras Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research |
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