Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Markets look ready to buoy back up into the green for today’s open, following a decent-sized selloff in Tuesday’s regular trading session across the board. As of this hour, the Dow is up 125 points, the Nasdaq +90 and the S&P 500 +15. After a down day in the market amid our current trading environment, investors are seeking equilibrium at present more than they are swinging for the fences or looking to draw blood.
Durable Goods Orders for February disappointed in its preliminary read this morning, with a headline of -1.1% well off expectations of +0.4%. Strip out volatile month-over-month Defense spending, this figure is still -0.7%, ex-Transportation -0.9%. Core Capital Goods Orders (non-Defense, ex-aircraft — a proxy for normal business investment), which were expected to come in at +0.4%, reached -0.8% last month.
Consider, however, January’s upwardly revised +3.5% in Durable Goods was the highest number we’d seen in half a year, and almost triple the previous month. So a bit of the supply side of goods orders looks like it had been pulled forward a bit. Even still, with demand strong in most areas and looking to increase as stimulus checks continue to hit household bank accounts, posting 110 basis points to the negative is an inauspicious way for the Great American Reopening to start.
After the opening bell, new Markit PMI reads for both Manufacturing and Services in March are expected to come out. These ought to add a bit more color to economic growth in immediate terms, rather than a month in arrears. Analysts are looking for modest upticks in both Manufacturing (59.8 estimated from 58.6 in February) and Services (60.1 versus 59.8).
These new prints may not be calculated into the economic outlooks of Fed Chair Jay Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who bring their tandem testimony on Capitol Hill to the Senate today from their House testimony yesterday. So far, nothing surprising has been uncovered in either chief’s view forward; both acknowledge growth has come to the U.S. economy a bit ahead of schedule, but there is clearly lots more work to do.
In addition, we’ll hear from Fed Presidents Mary Daly from San Francisco, John Williams (NYSE:WMB) from New York and Charles Evans from Chicago this afternoon and evening about their informed takes on economic development. Daly and Evans resume their talks Thursday, while Powell and Yellen conclude their testimony today. More articulation from the biggest brains in national economics. We could do worse.
Questions or comments about this article and/or its author? Click here>>
Time to Invest in Legal Marijuana
If you’re looking for big gains, there couldn’t be a better time to get in on a young industry primed to skyrocket from $17.7 billion back in 2019 to an expected $73.6 billion by 2027.
After a clean sweep of 6 election referendums in 5 states, pot is now legal in 36 states plus D.C. Federal legalization is expected soon and that could be a still greater bonanza for investors. Even before the latest wave of legalization, Zacks Investment Research has recommended pot stocks that have shot up as high as +285.9%
You’re invited to check out Zacks’ Marijuana Moneymakers: An Investor’s Guide. It features a timely Watch List of pot stocks and ETFs with exceptional growth potential.
Today, Download Marijuana Moneymakers FREE >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports
Invesco QQQ (QQQ): ETF Research Reports
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSE:DIA): ETF Research Reports
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report