Stock Market Initial Offers Low - Fresh Acceleration for Rally?
The U.S. Department of Labor has released unexpectedly low initial jobless claims today, with a total of 231,000 claims—a significant decline that marks the strongest decline in nearly four years. This surprising drop of 33,000 from the previous week signals a turning point in the U.S. labor market that is being closely watched on stock markets.
The previous week's figure was revised up by 1,000 to 264,000 initial claims. This latest figure is a far cry from economists' expectations of a decline to 240,000 initial claims.
The current situation on Wall Street suggests a continuation of the rally ahead of Thursday's trading start, following the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's announcement of the first interest rate cut the night before. The Dow Jones is expected to open 0.4 percent higher at 46,207 points, while the S&P 500 is likely to rise 0.6 percent to 6,693 points. The Nasdaq 100 is seen up 1.1 percent at 24,495 points.
Several stocks are currently in focus on the stock market. Intel's stock is in the limelight after Nvidia announced a multi-billion dollar investment. Nvidia's stock is a potential buy, according to some analysts. Meanwhile, D-Wave's stock is at a record high, and it's likely to continue its record chase among quantum stocks.
In the world of cryptocurrency, Peter Thiel's crypto bet, Bullish, had an earnings jump, gaining around eight percent thanks to strong quarterly results.
On Wednesday, the Fed cut the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points—the first move this year. The Fed explicitly cited recent weak labor market developments as a reason for the rate cut.
The new issue of DER AKTIONÄR discusses the AI mania, shedding light on the latest developments and trends in the AI sector.
As the labor market continues to show signs of strength, investors and analysts will closely monitor the expected Initial Jobless Claims for the following week. These figures are calculated and published by the U.S. Department of Labor based on a moving average of the last four weekly reports, smoothing short-term fluctuations to provide a reliable trend indicator of the U.S. labor market.
