"Dude, just stay down and don't move until the government's employment report tomorrow."
Dow 13,060 (-.11%) S&P 1,399 (-.06%)
The realization that the Federal Reserve plans no further policies to stimulate the economy was a right jab on Tuesday and a weak Spanish debt auction was a blowing body shot on Wednesday. This morning, investors in Europe continued to sell their Spanish bonds to anyone daring enough to buy the risky assets and this news was an uppercut to fatigued American traders. The Dow fell a measly 15 points on a mostly quiet Thursday as many investors ignored more good U.S. jobs data and threw in the towel before the long Good Friday weekend. And the rest were simply looking ahead to tomorrow’s huge US government March employment report….
Weekly jobless claims fall to lowest level in 4 years ahead of Friday’s major employment report
The Labor Department reported that the amount of Americans filing for unemployment over the last week, or “jobless claims,” dropped by 6,000 applicants to reach 357,000 total, its lowest level since April 2008. The number has been declining for six months and economists point out that claims consistently below the 400,000 mark are a sign that employers are firing less. Today’s data though did little to move the markets as investors remain focused on tomorrow’s big ol’ monthly jobs train pulling into the station – the government’s official March employment report will detail the unemployment rate and how many new non-farm jobs were added. Since the report comes out the first Friday of every month and Good Friday is dependent on cycles in the moon, tomorrow presents a unique situation in which the stock market will be closed when the major labor news is released. Investors who are members of the futures market will have a 45-minute window only on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to trade early in the morning right after the announcement….the rest of us will swallow the news and react on Monday.
Nasdaq wins Facebook over New York Stock Exchange
It’s a game of bragging rights and NASDAQ (NDAQ, +1.19%), the rival exchange to the New York Stock Exchange (NYX, -1.26%), won the recruiting battle for the golden Facebook stock listing. When Facebook finally becomes a public company after its Initial Public Offering (IPO) this summer all of its shares will be traded on NASDAQ’s exchange under the ticker symbol “FB.” Tech enthusiasts shook their heads upon hearing that Mark Zuckerburg did not stick it to the establishment with a comical symbol such as “POKE” or “LIKE.” NASDAQ is the home stock exchange of tech titans including Google, Apple, and soon Facebook.
Tomorrow:
- The US stock market is closed for Good Friday; US bond market is open until noon.
- The all-critical, eagerly-anticipated, much-discussed government employment report for March. MarketSnacks will have you covered….
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