By Kim Khan
Investing.com - Stocks finished in the green today, helped by some strong earnings reports.
Sentiment was also buoyed by the latest jobless claims figures, which, while above expectations and still staggeringly large, indicated that the weekly rise was still diminishing.
Tomorrow the big government employment report is on the schedule and all eyes will be on the numbers ahead of trading.
There will be more data on oil production and some earnings that could give more insight into the Covid-19 effect.
Here are three things that could move the market tomorrow.
1. Historically Bad Jobs Report Coming
The April employment report will capture an entire month of lockdown measures that brought large parts of the economy to a standstill.
The Labor Department will report the numbers at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).
Economists expect that nonfarm payrolls plunged by 22 million last month, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
That would be 27-times the worst monthly decline during the Financial Crisis and 11-times the record drop of September 1945, the demobilization of World War II, Bloomberg reported.
The unemployment rate is expected to spike to 16% from 4.4%, although that would be well below rates above 20% seen during the Great Depression.
Average hourly earnings are expected to have risen 0.4%, although visibility on that datapoint could be tough.
“The blow to wages is much more immediate and abrupt than we have seen in the past and could take a toll on average hourly earnings in a way we have never witnessed,” Grant Thornton Chief Economist Diane Swonk said in a note. “Firms usually lay off workers before they scale back compensation schemes; both have happened simultaneously during this crisis.”
2. Rig Count on Tap
Oil settled lower today, despite Saudi Arabia raising the official selling price of its June light crude.
After ascending higher than $20, WTI is now encountering resistance, with many thinking the rally has been overdone given the fact that there is little concrete evidence that the global economy is gearing up again.
Tomorrow will give investors the latest measure of U.S. oil rig activity from Baker Hughes at 1:00 PM ET (17:00 GMT).
The number of oil rigs in operation has fallen to levels last seen in mid-2016.
The rig count dropped to 325 last week.
3. SeaWorld Set to Report
As the week winds down, so does earnings season with the last of the busy Fridays before the reporting calendar is sparse again.
While no major market-movers are issuing results, there a couple of companies that could give some more insight into the lockdown economy.
SeaWorld Entertainment (NYSE:SEAS) will report its numbers ahead of trading, although the numbers likely won’t be the most interesting part of the report. The theme park operator already issued its results for the first two months of the year in late April and updated its guidance (to the downside, naturally).
But whether the company thinks it can open its parks and possibly maintain social distancing and what it thinks of demand in the future will be of particular interest.
Analysts are predicting a loss of 67 cents per share on revenue of $172 million, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
And they say Twinkies can survive through any circumstances, but are they a sought-after comfort food during lockdown.
Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:TWNK) will also report ahead of trading with a profit of 13 cents per share expected, with sales of about $228 million.