Opening Comment — Thursday, February 06, 2025
DJIA: 44,873.28, up 317.24
S&P 500: 6,061.48, up 23.60
NASDAQ: 19,692.33, up 38.31
Stocks unchanged ahead of jobless claims data
Stock futures are mostly unchanged Thursday morning ahead of today’s economic releases, including data on jobless claims, continuing claims, and nonfarm productivity growth. As of 7:17 AM ET, the Dow and the S&P 500 Index are both little changed. The Nasdaq 100 is falling 0.2% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were higher on Wednesday as the Institute for Supply Management’s services purchasing managers’ index and the prices paid component came in lower than expected. The ADP Employment Change Report showed private nonfarm payroll gains for January exceeded expectations. The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected. The Dow was up 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%. The S&P 500 increased 0.4% with eight of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Real Estate sector was the top performer, rising 1.6%, while the Communication Services sector was the bottom performer, falling 2.8%.
On the data front, initial jobless claims for the week ending February 1 are expected to come in at 213,000, higher than the prior week’s 207,000. Continuing claims are expected to rise slightly to 1.87 million for the week ending January 25 from the prior week’s 1.86 million. The preliminary fourth-quarter nonfarm productivity growth is expected to come in at 1.2% quarter-over-quarter, versus the prior month’s increase of 2.2%, while unit labor costs are forecasted to have increased at an annualized 3.4% pace, up from the prior print of 0.8%. The Challenger Report on job cuts for January is expected to be released today, with December having shown a 11.4% year-over-year increase.
Across the pond, European stocks are higher in mid-day trading as German factory orders increased more than expected in December. The eurozone’s retail sales fell in December.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly higher following Australia’s trade surplus narrowing in December.
In FOREX trading, the dollar is higher as the Bank of England cut rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) to 4.50% in a 7-2 decision, with some members preferring a larger 50 basis point (0.50%) cut.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.8% higher at $71.59/barrel despite a greater-than-expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.4% lower at $2,860.70/ounce following a strengthening dollar.