Day Ahead: 3 Things to Watch for September 4
Investing.com
Published Sep 03, 2020 04:03PM ET
By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- It was ugly out there. Markets took a wallop of a beating on Thursday, battered by tech stocks, which have rallied unrelentingly this summer.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by more than 800 points, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) leading the drop. All sectors of the Dow closed lower in the worst day for stocks since June.
Cruise lines and retail stocks held their own amid the red after reporting a return to operations and better-than-expected results, respectively.
And economic data that wasn't so bad didn't do much to ease the pain. The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that initial jobless claims fell to 881,000 in the week ended Aug. 28, beating forecasts of 950,000. The ISM non-manufacturing index slowed to a reading of 56.9 last month, from 58.1 in July, missing economists' forecasts for a reading of 57, which Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) called a modest decline.
Here are three things that may move markets tomorrow:
1. Tech slaughter
Tech stocks led the market to slaughter on Thursday. Will they keep up the momentum?
Apple, which pulled the Dow lower, led the stumble among the Fab 5 tech stocks, which include Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).
Stay-at-home tech favorites Chegg (NYSE:CHGG), Zoom Video Communications Inc (NASDAQ:ZM) and Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) also tumbled, though the coronavirus pandemic hasn't yet dissipated, and no vaccine has been approved. We get earnings from DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) after the market close on Thursday, which, if it beats, could provide a tiny spark of hope in the segment.
2. Jobs
The August jobs report is out in the morning at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT). Non-farm payrolls are expected to come at 1.4 million. That compares to July's 1.7 million. The level of unemployment may have fallen slightly to 9.8% from the previous 10.2%.
3. Holiday weekend
Markets tend to be slower ahead of holiday weekend, but this one may be an exception after the roller-coaster week we've had. Labor Day on Monday means a much-needed break for investors. It also marks the unofficial end of summer and return to school, whatever that may mean from where you are sitting.
Rest up for what's sure to be a heart-stopping last few months of 2020.
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