By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- Stocks surged on Wednesday on optimism over another round of stimulus from Washington even though late word was not hopeful.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to achieve a deal. They did say they would continue talks, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the two sides were "far apart."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had gained more than 500 points earlier in the trading session, gave back only some those gains, closing up 329 or 1.2%, capping an ugly month for the markets, on the last day of the quarter.
The fate of the stimulus package was the focus for investors, as they seemed to shrug off fears about growing Covid-19 cases around the United States, even in areas like New York. A nasty debate between the two presidential candidates on Tuesday also failed to sway markets.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Will drinks and snacks do better than towels and linens?
Reports from a bunch of companies could show whether shopping for towels and sheets was more popular than at-home drinking and snacking over the last few months.
Earnings are due out from home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY), which is expected to report a loss of 32 cents a share on $2.6 billion revenue, but several other retailers have beaten expectations.
Meanwhile wine and spirits maker Constellation Brands Inc Class A (NYSE:STZ) is expected to report earnings of $2.50 a share on $2.2 billion revenue, and soda and snack maker PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP) is expected to report EPS of $1.48 on $17.2 billion in revenue.
2. Jobs, jobs, jobs
The weekly unemployment measurements come out at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT). The data will compared to Wednesday's better than expected private payroll gains reported by ADP and comes a day before the last official government data on jobs before the general election.
Analysts tracked by Investing.com expect new jobless claims of 850,000 for last week and continuing claims of 12.3 million.
3. Income and spending for August
Also due out at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT) are data about personal income and personal spending for August.
Analysts tracked by Investing.com predict income will fall 2.4% from the prior month while spending is expected to rise 0.7%.
The numbers likely reflect the pressure on many households where people are still out of work, especially given the loss of the extra $600 in weekly federal pandemic unemployment assistance (which was only partly replaced at $300 a week for a limited amount of time).