It was another nice pop on Thursday into the close. Stocks that lose these days are taking extra punishment; hence the fact that the down volume was almost equal to the up volume on the New York Stock Exchange. However, the winner’s circle is building with close to 500 stocks, closing at new 52-week highs on the NYSE and the NASDAQ.
NYSE Advancers: 1,613 Decliners: 1,336 New Highs: 234 New Lows: 13 Up Volume: 1.43 billion Down Volume: 1.33 billion | NASDAQ Advancers: 1,812 Decliners: 1,395 New Highs: 252 New Lows: 17 Up Volume: 1.29 billion Down Volume: 808.9 million |
By the way, there is growing noise about the market being too enthusiastic, and the moves being too powerful to last. Check out the chart from Bespoke Extracts (BSPK). The historical norms of an average up day are +0.73% (the average down day, -0.73%); the DJIA +0.74%, S&P +0.67, and the NASDAQ +0.81%.
Big Jobs Day
December Jobs Report | Estimate | November |
Total employment | 160,000 | 266,000 |
Private sector | 153,000 | 254,000 |
Unemployment rate | 3.5% | 3.5% |
Hourly wage increase | +0.3% | +0.2% |
I think we’ll see a number north of 200,000; more importantly, I expect non-supervisory wages to continue to power ahead of the overall wage gains. Secondly, I want to see strong labor force gains to keep pushing up the employment-to-population ratio – the all-time high is within sight.