The Nasdaq Composite reached a fresh record high on Monday as market participants poured into growth stocks ahead of a busy week of inflation readings. Investors are also trading with the assumption that the Federal Reserve will issue at least a quarter-point interest rate cut at its September meeting following August's weak jobs report.
The tech-heavy index climbed 0.5% to reach an intraday high of 21,800 on Monday, before closing up 0.45% to settle at 21,798.70. The broader market S&P 500 Index
The week ahead hosts two major inflation readings: the producer price index (PPI) due out Wednesday morning and the consumer price index (CPI) on Thursday. The two economic reports will provide another health check for the U.S. economy after a string of soft labor market data reignited concerns over a potential recession ahead.
Wall Street currently expects the central bank to lower interest rates by at least 25-basis-points at the conclusion of its September 16-17 meeting next week, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. However, more than 10% of traders predict the Fed will issue a half-point rate cut in effort to stabilize the weakening labor market.
Economists at Wells Fargo, Comerica Bank and Pantheon Macroeconomics expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics' revisions to earlier labor market data through March to be off by almost 800,000 on Tuesday, meaning U.S. private employers added about 67,000 a month on average, Bloomberg News reports Monday.
"A big downward revision to job growth through March 2025 would have less implications for monetary policy than a downward revision to job growth in the most recent months, but it does set the stage for the broader context of how the economy has been doing," said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica, quoted by Bloomberg. "And all things equal, downward revisions to job growth increase pressure on the Fed to ease policy."
Americans' confidence in their ability to find a new position after job loss fell to a record low in August, the New York Federal Reserve's monthly survey of consumer expectations showed Monday, declining 5.8 percentage points from the previous month to 44.9% -- the lowest reading in the survey's more than a decade-long history.
Beneath the headline, the probability of voluntarily leaving one's job over the next year remained mostly unchanged at 18.9%, while expectations that the unemployment rate will be higher a year from now rose 1.7 percentage points to 39.1%.
In the news, shares of AppLovin
Elon Musk's SpaceX announced Monday it will purchase wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar
The companies have also agreed to provide EchoStar's Boost Mobile subscribers access to Starlink direct-to-cell service, extending satellite internet service to more areas.
For Tuesday, market participants will trade ahead of key inflation data due out later this week. Oracle
