Private payrolls data rose just 145,000 in March
Futures on Wall Street are pointed lower this morning, after today's ADP employment report came in well below estimates, with private payrolls rising just 145,000 in March as opposed to expectations of a 210,000 rise. Traders are also digesting surging U.S. trade deficit data for February, which increased to a higher-than-expected $70.5 billion. As a result, Nasdaq Composite Index (NDX), Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), and S&P 500 Index (SPX) futures are all in the red.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White sees key SPX level reemerging.
- Don't bet on this blue-chip stock just yet.
- Plus, Johnson & Johnson's settlement; FedEx's new plans; and ALB downgraded.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 980,514 call contracts and 754,245 put contracts traded on Tuesday. The single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.77 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.78.
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) sports a 3% premarket lead, despite news that the blue-chip pharmaceutical company will, over the next 25 years, pay $8.9 billion to settle claims talc in its baby powder and other products led to cancer. In the last 12 months, JNJ is down 10.2%.
- FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) is 2.2% higher before the bell, and adding to a 30.8% year-to-date lead, after the firm announced a dividend hike of 10%, consolidation of its different business units, and changes to executive compensation packages.
- Bank of America downgraded Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) stock to "underperform" and cut its price target to $195 -- implying roughly 7% downside to last night's close. ALB, which has lost 26.2% in the last nine months, was last seen down 3.9% in electronic trading.
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European Investors Remain Cautious
Asian market settled on both sides of the aisle Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.7%, despite the country’s services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rising to 55 in March for a seventh-straight expansion. The reading was also the second strongest in the history of the survey. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite were closed for holiday, while the South Korean Kospi added 0.5%.
European markets are mixed as well amid cautious investor sentiment. London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.4% midday, while the French CAC 40 inches 0.1% lower, and the German DAX drops 0.3%.