What’s the Buzz?

In this buzz: March payroll and unemployment; Equities & Fed Fund futures; and more…

• Stocks slid yesterday as private payroll data and recession fears weighed on risk assets. The slide continues early Thursday as weekly jobless claims came in higher than expected, reinforcing signs of slowing job growth.
• Job cuts, led by the tech industry have increased almost fivefold this year and the number of available job postings fell below 10 million in February for the first time in two years.

Tomorrow is a holiday for the markets but not for the federal government, so the…
✳ March payroll and unemployment data will be released, but trades will have to wait until Monday to react.
✳ Nonfarm payrolls have continued to show substantial growth despite increased layoffs; there are still 1.7 job openings for each available worker. But there are concerns about that trend reversing.

Equities have rallied…
… over the past few months as signs of a slowing economy were seen as hope that the Fed would conclude it’s rate hikes. Now investors seem skeptical that the Fed will be able to engineer the coveted soft landing and fear they may have already tightened to the point of sending the economy into recession.

Fed fund futures…
… at the CME Group are currently pricing in expectations that the Federal Reserve is not only done raising interest rates but is likely to cut them later in 202.

🐰 Happy Easter to all those who celebrate and enjoy the long weekend and those who have tomorrow off.

🧠 Box:
Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index A measure of the prices that people living in the United States, or those buying on their behalf, pay for goods and services.

The PCE price index is known for capturing inflation (or deflation) across a wide range of consumer expenses and reflecting changes in consumer behavior. It’s a major indicator of inflation in the U.S. economy.


source:Yahoo Finance