Private employers added 184,000 jobs in March
Stock futures are looking to extend yesterday's losses after a better-than-expected ADP employment report for March. According to the payrolls processing firm, private companies added 184,000 workers last month, surpassing expectations of 155,000. Bond yields surged in response to this indicator of a strong labor market, which may encourage the Federal Reserve to hold off on cutting interest rates in the near term.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White weighs in on a strong first quarter.
- The newest meme stock is falling fast.
- Plus, TSLA continues to fall; WOLF downgraded; and Intel's growing operating losses.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- Due to technical issues, there is no Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) data for yesterday's session.
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock is 1.4% lower ahead of the open, adding to a 5.2% weekly loss that followed weak deliveries. TSLA attracted several price-target cuts today, including one from J.P. Morgan Securities to $115 from $130. So far this year, Tesla stock shed 33%.
- Wolfspeed Inc (NYSE:WOLF) also attracted a bear note from Wells Fargo thanks to its exposure to Tesla and weaker-than-expected silicon carbide device demand. The analyst downgraded Wolfspeed to "equal weight" from "overweight" and cut its price target by $25 to $30. Down 3.6% in premarket trading, WOLF is 55.5% lower in the last 12 months.
- Speaking of chip names, shares of Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC) are down 5.3% before the bell, after the company showed losses are mounting in its chip-making unit. Specifically, Intel's operating loss of $7 billion in 2023 was up from $5.2 billion in the year prior. INTC is already down 12.6% for 2024.
- Plenty of economic data is due out this week, including several speeches from the Federal Reserve.
Euro Zone Inflation Eased in March
Markets in Asia slipped in today’s trading, with electric vehicle (EV) stocks weighing on the heels of demand trouble. Meanwhile, China’s service sector activity grew from 52.5 to 52.7 in March. For Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei shed 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.2%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.2%, and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.7%.
Across the pond in Europe, stocks are mixed after Euro zone inflation data eased to 2.4% last month compared to estimates of 2.6%. At last check, London’s FTSE 100 is off 0.3% and both France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX are up 0.2%.