Wall Street’s major indexes experienced a volatile trading session on Wednesday, fluctuating between minor gains and losses. The market’s indecisiveness was fueled by a disappointing job openings report, which indicated a softening of the labor market, and dovish remarks from a Federal Reserve policymaker.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed a significant decline in job openings during July, marking the lowest level in three and a half years. While this suggests that the labor market is cooling, it may not be enough to convince the Federal Reserve to implement a substantial interest rate cut in September.
Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal for Reuters:
The data comes ahead of the crucial August non-farm payrolls numbers due on Friday, which could sway bets on the size of the U.S. central bank’s expected rate cut.
There’s a fear that the economy is slowing down more than expected and any surprise to Friday’s payrolls data can cause the Fed to take a more aggressive stance than initially expected, Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments, said.
Markets now see a 55% chance of a 25-basis point interest rate cut, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, down from 61% earlier in the day, while that of a 50-bps cut stands at 45%.
Since 1928, the benchmark S&P 500 has recorded losses of about 1.2% on average in the historically weak month [of September] for U.S. equities.
MacDailyNews Note: The U.S. added 818,000 fewer jobs than the Bureau of Labor Statistics previously estimated from March 2023 to March 2024, according to the BLS, which released the data in late August.
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