- ADP weekly US employment -11,250
- Hassett: Trajectory for inflation is really good
- Goldman Sachs is getting more cautious on October jobs numbers
- US October NFIB small business optimism index 98.2 vs 98.3 expected
Markets:
- Gold up $13 to $4129
- WTI crude oil up 81-cents to $60.94
- S&P 500 up 0.2%
- CHF leads, GBP lags
- US bond market closed for holiday
It was a light day in markets on account of the holidays in the US and Canada. That closed some markets but the main ones were open and initially signalled declines led by chipmakers after SoftBank disclosed that it cleared out of its NVDA position in October. Those stocks remained under pressure but the rest of the market turned around midday, led by energy. As a result, the S&P 500 finished narrowly higher and the Nasdaq narrowly lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average touched a record.
In FX, the pound shook off the jobs numbers and it was the US dollar under some early pressure after the new weekly ADP employment report showed a troubling drop in employment for late October. That added to angst after some recent reports, including yesterday's Challenger data. It led to some broad USD selling, though some of that was trimmed late.
Oil was a winner as the market continues to see signs of Russian oil facing roadblacks and building tensions between the US and Venezuela.
