Wall Street Edges Lower as the S&P Heads for its third consecutive day of Losses This month

Wall Street Edges Lower as the S&P Heads for its third consecutive day of Losses This month.

Wall Street experienced a mixed trading session as the S&P revised its morning gains and losses. As of 15:04 a.m. ET, the Dow showed a slight decline of 0.09%, while the S&P suffered a more significant drop of 0.13%, and the Nasdaq managed to maintain relative stability with a minimal decline of 0.01%.

With today’s session, it accounts for the third straight day of losses this month for all indexes. With increasing tension in the chip industry and a cooling labor market, the U.S. Federal Reserve might reconsider its interest rate hikes. Still, several reports show that U.S. worker productivity increased in addition to a sharp decline in labor costs.

Given this in mind, investors will turn their attention to the monthly jobs report, which is due tomorrow.

Investors digested positive labor market data, as weekly jobless claims for the week ended July 29 were lower than expected, indicating robustness. However, Morgan Stanley predicts continued softening, forecasting a modest increase of 190,000 payrolls in July, marking a second-straight month of slowing job gains. This suggests that while the labor market remains relatively robust, it is showing signs of moderation and may not be experiencing the level of improvement that some investors might have hoped for.

 

In the continued news of the second quarter earnings report. A week earlier, Big Tech giants reported accelerating growth for Google and Meta’s focus on AI, but concerns arose about Microsoft’s capex. Investors await Apple and Amazon’s quarterly numbers, eyeing figures from companies with global workforces, billion-dollar revenues, and trillion-dollar market caps.

PayPal reported a better-than-expected earnings report. Still, the company’s stock prices were down by 8% due to increasing doubt about the manganese’s capabilities to solve the margin weight of its stock.

Meanwhile, in the oil market, oil prices keep going up despite the authorities’ reassurance that prices will not surpass the $80 per barrel level. Amidst this market turbulence, the energy sector displayed some resilience. Crude Brent oil saw a modest increase of 0.24%, reaching a price of $85.19 per barrel. Similarly, WTI (West Texas Intermediate) also rose, though slightly higher at 0.28%, reaching $81.6 per barrel.

 

Moving to the bond market, higher interest rates haven’t affected the bond market’s rally this year. In fact, soaring to 4.17%, the 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest point since November, driven by data reflecting a robust labor market and alleviating concerns about wage inflation. In today’s session, the ten-year Treasury yield saw an upward shift, rising by 2.44%. indicating a fluctuating market sentiment as investors continue to closely monitor the economic landscape.

When speaking about 2023’s top performance in the bond market, in the first place comes the Invesco Senior Loan ETF (BKLN), with a 7.0% YTD climb. Followed by the SPDR Bloomberg Short Term High Yield Bond ETF (SJNK) with a 5.6% gain. And first place goes to the SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) with a 5.4% gain.