Following a day of gains with a halt to the bond rout, Wall Street stocks were barely changed before the bell on Thursday. Attention is now shifting to Friday’s important labour market data.
After ending a three-day losing run on Wednesday as the major stock indices recovered from a sell-off, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 0.2%, or about 70 points. Futures on the S&P 500 (GSPC) were down about 0.1%, although those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NDX) were essentially flat.
Stocks were somewhat relieved by a reversal in bond rates’ ferocious surge, as the 10-year Treasury yield (TNX) was flat on Thursday after slipping from 16-year highs.
Investors are getting ready for Friday’s release of the September payroll figures after weaker-than-anticipated ADP private-sector hiring figures offered yet another indication of the labour market’s cooling. That might make the Fed reconsider boosting borrowing prices once more, relieving some market pressure.
Investors will receive figures on Challenger job layoffs for September on Thursday while they wait for the US weekly jobless claims data.
On Thursday, oil prices fell further amid worries that demand will be negatively impacted by the global economic slowdown. The price of WTI crude oil futures (CL=F), which had dropped the previous day by the most since last September, dropped 1.7% to settle below $84. Following the first time since late August that Brent crude futures (BZ=F) fell below $84 per barrel, they were down 1.6%.
The major stock indexes on Wall Street were headed for losses on Thursday as the focus shifted to Friday’s release of the US monthly payrolls report due to a reversal in the ferocious bond yield rally.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) declined 0.23%, or 77 points, while those on the S&P 500 (GSPC) sank 0.19%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 contract price fell 0.11%.