Opening Comment — Thursday, October 24, 2024
DJIA: 42,514.95, down 409.94
S&P 500: 5,797.42, down 53.78
NASDAQ: 18,276.65, down 296.48
Stocks mixed ahead of PMI data
Stock futures are mixed Thursday morning ahead of jobless claims data and a first look at October Purchasing Managers’ Indexes (PMIs). As of 7:17 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 0.2%, while the S&P 500 is up 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 is increasing 0.8% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were lower on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) most recent Beige Book showed flat economic activity for much of the U.S. The Dow was down 1.0%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6%. The S&P 500 decreased 0.9% with nine of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Real Estate sector was the top performer, rising 1.0%, while the Consumer Discretionary sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.8%.
On the data front, the Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index is expected to come in at 0.50 for September, up from the prior month’s 0.12. Initial jobless claims for the week ending October 19 are expected to have been 242,000 versus the prior week’s 241,000, while continuing claims for the week ending October 12 are expected to have increased to 1.88 million from the prior week’s 1.87 million. S&P Global’s preliminary October manufacturing, services, and composite PMIs are expected to register 47.5, 55.0, and 53.8, respectively, versus the prior month’s 47.3, 55.2, and 54.0, respectively. New home sales are expected to have been an annualized 720,000 in September versus the prior month’s 716,000, corresponding to a 0.6% month-over-month (MOM) increase compared to the prior month’s 4.7% decrease.
Across the pond, European stocks are higher in mid-day trading as the eurozone’s preliminary October PMIs showed a strengthening in manufacturing activity and a slight weakening in services activity, though the gauges remained in contractionary and expansionary territory, respectively. Both the U.K.’s manufacturing and services PMIs unexpectedly declined, though both remained in expansionary territory.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly lower following the advance reading of South Korea’s third-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) showing weaker-than-expected growth. Japan’s preliminary October PMIs declined, with both the manufacturing and services sectors now in contractionary territory.
In FOREX trading, the dollar is lower following international PMI data releases.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 1.7% higher at $71.94/barrel despite a larger-than-anticipated increase in crude oil inventories.
In the metals complex, gold is 1.1% lower at $2714.40/ounce despite a weakening dollar.