(As of 7:15 am PST)
The second quarter is off to a slow start as US stocks
were pressured from the start for the second straight day. Disappointing
economic data sent investors into sell mode early. Kicking things off was the
ADP employment report which showed private-sector employment gains of 189,000
in March, the slowest monthly gains since January 2014 and much weaker than the
consensus estimate. As mentioned in the past, the ADP report is less reliable
than Friday’s US nonfarm payrolls report, but is used by economists as a
forecast for Friday’s jobs data. Investors also weighed a disappointing ISM
index which fell below consensus, as well as declines in construction spending
and auto sales. In overseas action, things were a bit better. Asian markets
were mixed with Chinese stocks breaking out to a seven year high. In Europe,
the broad benchmarks were higher as strong manufacturing PMI across the region
helped stocks to rebound from Tuesday’s losses. Gold, oil and other commodities
are higher today while interest rates tumbled as money flowed into the safe-haven treasury.
No comments:
Post a Comment