The Major Markets ended the week mixed as economics returned to the forefront of the markets. Only the Nasdaq managed to close in positive territory while the other four indices closed lower.
The week opened with the release of the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey which saw an increase in the General Activity Index. The reading slightly beat expectations but fell from August’s rebound from three-year lows.
The market opened higher again on Tuesday but fell sharply after September’s ISM Manufacturing Index reported 47.8 which missed the breakeven estimates of 50. This marked the lowest result since June of 2009 and the second consecutive month of contraction for the index.
The losses continued on Wednesday after the ADP Employment Report showed that only 135,000 jobs were created in September. This caused some analysts to greatly reduce expectations going into Friday’s BLS Employment Report.
Thursday’s release of the ISM Non-manufacturing Index also missed expectations with the lowest reading in three years. However, the result managed to remain in growth territory.
The market began a strong turnaround shortly thereafter as the odds for an October rate cut surged. The probability of a rate cut to the 150 – 175 basis point range rose to 88.7% Thursday before ending at 77% on Friday.
These odds dropped somewhat after Friday’s gains on the back of mixed results from the BLS Employment Report. September nonfarm payrolls rose 136,000, which was short of the 145,000 expected. However, August’s reading was revised sharply higher from 130,000 to 168,000, reflecting a net gain that more than made up for the September shortfall. Additionally, the Unemployment Rate fell to 3.5%, the lowest since December of 1969. A fact that the President jumped on in the midst of the ongoing Impeachment saga.
______________________________________________
The S&P 500® Index is a capitalization index of 500 stock-designed to measure performance of the broad domestic economy through changes in the aggregate market value of stock representing all major industries.
https://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/sp-500
The Dow Jones Industrial Average® (The Dow®), is a price-weighted measure of 30 U.S. blue-chip companies. The index covers all industries except transportation and utilities.
https://us.spindices.com/indices/equity/dow-jones-industrial-average
The NASDAQ Composite Index measures all NASDAQ domestic and international based common type stocks listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market. Today the NASDAQ Composite includes over 2,500 companies, more than most other stock market indexes. Because it is so broad-based, the Composite is one of the most widely followed and quoted major market indexes
https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/Index/Overview/COMP
The MSCI World Index, which is part of The Modern Index Strategy, is a broad global equity benchmark that represents large and mid-cap equity performance across 23 developed markets countries. It covers approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country and MSCI World benchmark does not offer exposure to emerging markets.
The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index is designed to represent the performance of large- and mid-cap securities in 24 Emerging Markets countries of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. As of December 2017 it had more than 830 constituents and covered approximately 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.
The S&P GSCI Crude Oil index provides investors with a reliable and publicly available benchmark for investment performance in the crude oil market.
https://us.spindices.com/indices
Companies in the S&P 500 Sector Indices are classified based on the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®).
https://us.spindices.com/indices