Investors Struggle to Adjust to Fed's Delayed Stronger Action Message

Barry Adams
09 Mar, 2023
New York City

Stocks lost early momentum as investors reviewed comments from the Fed chairman and jobless claims ahead of Friday's nonfarm payrolls data. 

Initial jobless claims in the last week rose to the most in 2023 and investors await a broader report on the state of the labor market and health of the economy. 

ADP's private payroll data and the Labor Department's monthly JOLT survey showed tight labor market conditions and resilient economy, raising worries that the Fed may have to raise faster to cool the economy that may be deemed too hot.  

 

Weekly Jobless Claims Advanced 

Initial jobless claims for the week ended March 4 surged by 21,000 from the previous week to 211,000, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. 

The weekly claims were the highest in 2023 after tech layoffs accelerated. The four-week moving average which smoothes out the weekly volatility increased 4,000 to 197,000. 

Continuing claims ending in the previous week increased 69,000 to 1.72 million, the highest since January 2022.   

 

Indexes & Yields 

The S&P 500 index decreased 0.2% to 3,985.68 and the Nasdaq Composite index eased 2.12 points to 11,570.95. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes decreased to 4.98%, 10-year Treasury notes edged down to 3.98% and 30-year Treasury bonds fell to 3.88%. 

Crude oil advanced $1.12 to $77.77 a barrel and natural gas rose 6 cents to $2.61 thermal unit. 

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

Silvergate Capital Corp fell 28.3% to $3.39 after the company said it plans to initiate the process of liquidating crypto-assets focused Silvergate Bank.   

SVB Financial Group plunged 38.9% to $163.43 after the company announced its plan to raise through a $1.25 billion common stock offering and $500 million depository receipts. 

MongoDB Inc declined to $211.45 after the database company offered weak revenue guidance. 

The company said revenue in the fourth quarter increased 36% to $361.3 million and net loss declined to $64.4 million from $84.4 million and diluted loss per share fell to 93 cents from $1.26 a year ago. 

The company guided full-year 2023 revenue in the range of $1.48 billion and $1..51 billion, indicating a slower revenue growth than in 2022. 

 Tesla Inc declined 0.6% to $180.83 on the news that federal safety regulators are looking to investigate what happened in a fatal collision involving a Tesla S model and a firetruck.