Fresh evidence showed continued strength in the job market, dropping the stock market at Thursday’s opening bell. Bad news for Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) and crypto assets added to a pessimistic tone.
X
The major indexes continued a seesaw week. The Nasdaq composite was down 0.7% at 10:13 am ET after dropping more than 1% Wednesday. The S&P 500 was off 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%.
The small-cap Russell 2000 was down 1.3%.
Volume fell on the Nasdaq and rose on the NYSE compared with the same time on Wednesday.
ADP Payrolls, Jobless Claims Rattle Stock Market
Stock market futures turned lower after two better-than-expected pre-market job reports.
Automatic data processing (ADP) said its computations of payroll data showed an increase of 235,000 jobs in December. That’s well above economist forecasts for 145,000 job additions.
Initial claims for jobless benefits fell to 204,000 in the last week of 2022, from 223,000 the previous week, above expectations for 225,000. Taken together, the reports showed a still-firm job market and revived fears of more interest-rate hikes.
Next up, the Labor Department issues its December nonfarm payrolls report on Friday morning. The consensus estimate is for 200,000 job additions, down from 263,000 in November, and an unchanged 3.7% jobless rate.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 4 basis points to 3.75%.
In stock market action, Bed Bath & Beyond plunged 23% after the beleaguered retailer said it may file for bankruptcy as it struggles to fund operations.
BBBY shares are now trading under two bucks after a flash rally to August 30, when investor Ryan Cohen bought a large position that he quickly dumped. Two years ago, a rally climbed to nearly 54 as the home goods chain became part of the meme-stock frenzy.
Amazon, Other Major Stock Market Movers
Amazon.com (AMZN) fell 1.2% after CEO Andy Jassy confirmed the online retailer and cloud services giant will cut about 18,000 jobs. Most of the cuts will be in Amazon stores and PXT, its People, Experience and Technology business. Jassy cited an uncertain economy and the company’s aggressive hiring spree.
Western Digital (WDC) climbed 3% in heavy volume and is testing the 50-day moving average. The company restarted talks to combine with Japan-based Kioxia Holdings, another storage tech company, Bloomberg reported.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is on track for a third-straight sharp drop, down more than 2% on the day in heavy volume. The agricultural products company is falling below its 200-day moving average this week.
Some oil and gas shipping stocks continued to fall. Dorian LPG (LPG) lost another 6% and is off 13.6% this week as it breaks the 10-week moving average.
RPM International (RPM) plunged more than 8%, gapping down to its 200-day line.
The stock fell more than 8% below its 98.07 buy point from a Nov. 10 breakout, causing a sell signal. The paints and coatings maker slightly missed sales and profit expectations for its November-ended quarter, according to FactSet. RPM also warned that current-quarter sales growth will slow to the low to mid single-digit percentage.
Crypto Woes Continue
Coindesk (COIN), among the slumping crypto-related stocks, tumbled 11% to 33.60. Cowen downgraded the stock from outperform to market perform and set a 36 price target, reports said.
Silvergate Capital (SI), a regional bank that specializes in digital currency customers, plummeted more than 40% in heavy trading. The Wall Street Journal reported the collapse of FTX caused a run on the bank that forced Silvergate to sell assets at a loss to cover billions in withdrawals. The bank has laid off 40% of its staff.
Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) fell more than 1% to a new 52-week low and the lowest since June 2016. While the majority of the 50 stocks fell, none made major moves.
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