Please note the SIA Wealth Morning Minutes will not be issued on Monday March 13th, it should return on Tuesday March 14th.
US index futures are mixed as investors struggle with the implications of today’s North American employment numbers. Dow Futues are down 0.1% while NASDAQ futures are up 0.5%. US Nonfarm Payrolls (311K vs street 203K and previous 517K) and Canadian job growth (22K vs street 10K and previous 150K) both came in stronger than investors had expected. Meanwhile average hourly earnings for the US (4.6%% vs previous 4.4%) and Canada (5.4% vs previous 4.5%) indicated that wage inflation continues to increase, keeping pressure on North American central banks to remain hawkish.
In response to yesterday’s US index losses of 1.6%-2.0%, overseas markets have been selling off overnight and into this morning with the Dax down 1.2%, the FTSE falling 1.7%, and the Hang Seng dropping 3.0%. Commodities are also under pressure this morning with WTI crude oil down 1.0% and slipping back under $75.00/bbl, while copper is down 1.3%.
Financial troubles at some specialty banks have been dragging on markets. The fallout from crypto bank Silvergate Capital announcing that it is going out of business continues to impact cryptocurrencies today. Bitcoin is down 3.1% and has fallen back under $20,000 while Ethereum is down 4.1%. Meanwhile, venture capital provider SVB Financial, aka Silicon Valley Bank, is down 44.9% premarket after falling 60.4% yesterday after announcing an emergency capital raise earlier this week amid losses in its bond portfolio.
Overnight earnings reports haven’t helped investors’ mood either. Gap is down 6.9% premarket after reporting worse than expected losses (-$0.75 vs street -$0.46), Oracle is down 4.4% premarket after missing expectations on sales, Docusign is down 15.1% premarket after beating the street on earnings but missing on guidance, while Ulta Beauty is down marginally in premarket action despite reporting stronger than expected EPS ($6.68 vs street $5.70).
