Thursday's Market Recap - Fed Moves To An Average 2% Inflation Target Regime To Help Economy.
What is The Premarket Telling Us?
7:00 AM.
US stock futures are pointing modestly lower at this hour, suggesting markets could be lower at the open. Dow futures down 81 points, Nasdaq futures down 24 points, S&P futures down 8 points. Investors are anticipating comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, at the virtual Jackson Hole Summit.
On The Bond Desk:
The US 10 Year Bond Yield at 0.69%, up 0.01%.
Currency Desk:
Euro dollar: 1.18
UK Pound: 1.32
Crude Oil:
WTI crude oil futures at $43.25/barrel, down 0.32%
On the Earnings Calendar:
None
In M&A News:
None.
What About The Asian And European Markets?
Major Asian markets were mostly lower overnight. Japan (Nikkei 225) lost 0.35%, Shanghai up 0.61%, Hong Kong (Hang Seng) fell 0.83%.
Major European markets were moderately lower. German (DAX) down 0.71%, France CAC 40 down 0.64%, London FTSE 100 down 0.75%.
Market And Sector Dynamics
Markets are off to a nicely positive start, driven mostly comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the a new strategy to achieve it 2% inflation target. The Fed will now move to an average 2% inflation target over time. At times the Fed the inflation target could float higher than 2%, and at other times it will be below that target.
Investor seems to be cheering this idea. The Dow opened up 100 points, Nasdaq up 17 points, and the S&P was up 7 points. WTI crude oil was mostly unchanged at $43.21/barrel, while the US 10 Year Bond ticked modestly higher at 0.668%.
Trading was choppy, but positive for the entire session with eight of the eleven S&P sectors ended in positive territory, led by Real Estate, Financials, Healthcare, Consumer Staples, Industrials, Utilities, Energy, and Technology. Communication Services, Consumer Discretionary, and Basic Materials and traded lower today.
Factors Influencing Today's Market
Second Quarter GDP fell -31.7% vs -32.9% estimate.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced he is moving to an average 2% inflation target.
Asian and European markets were mostly lower in their session.
US 10 Year Bond Yield 0.754%, up 9.50%.
WTI crude oil closed today at $42.95/barrel, up 1.01%.
This week's Initial Jobless Claims report shows 1.006 million American filed for first-time unemployment benefits.
Market Close Volume Traded And Advance Decline Ratio
When the markets closed for the day the markets were mixed. The Dow gained 160.35 points, Nasdaq fell 39.72 points, and the S&P gained 5.82 points. Total NYSE volume traded, a light 3.95 billion shares. Advancing shares outpaced Declining shares by 1.28:1.
Data Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN Money, Google Finance, Market Watch, TD Ameritrade, Yahoo Finance.
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