The Buzz on Business for February 8th 2024

More good news from the labor market and more good news on earnings propels the broad market higher, but decliners lead advancers yet again, the market narrows, and we can’t shake this ominous foreboding. Cue the creepy, menacing music.

Stock Market Report

Of the thirty Dow stocks, twenty closed with a loss. The index would have had a loss itself for the day, but for Disney, which was up 11.5% on decent earnings announced Wednesday after the bell.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up just a tenth of a percent and closed at 38,726, for a gain of forty-nine points.
• The S&P 500 flirted with the 5000 mark all day but fell just short.  It was up a minuscule three points and closed at 4,998.
• The NASDAQ Composite closed at 15,794, up thirty-seven points, or two-tenths of a percent.
• The small-cap, Russell 2000, had a better day. It was up 1.7% and closed at 1,980 for a gain of thirty-three points.
• The RSP was up two-tenths of a percent.
• The SOXL was up a stout 5% on the session.

Bond Market Report

The 2-year, 20-year spread righted itself on Thursday, at least for the time being, as rates were up, bonds were down across the board.

• The yield on the two year treasury closed at 4.454%, that's up three basis points.
• The 20-year closed at 4.458%. Up five ticks.

Oil, Gold, and Bitcoin

• Oil broke out to the upside. Reportedly on increasing tensions in the Middle East, although those tensions have not affected it much thus far. Regardless, it was up $2.43 and the barrel will now set you back $76.44.
• Gold closed at $2,049. That's off $2.70.
• And Bitcoin had another really good day. It was up 2.7% and closed at 45,491, up $1,173.

Disney Misses on Revenue, Rallies Anyway!

CNBC described it as an earnings bonanza, but we're not so sure. As we reported yesterday, Disney earned $1.22 a share versus expectations of just a dollar. But it missed on revenue. Revenues came in at $73.5 billion, while the Street was expecting $73.75 billion. Regardless, the stock did really well; Disney was up over 10 1/2 percent on the session. That's the best showing for Disney in over two years.

Labor Market's Surprising Strength

To us, the big news on the day was the continuing strength of the labor market. Initial jobless claims came in at 218,000 versus expectations of 221,000 and 227,000 last week.

Continuing claims also beat expectations. They came in at 1.871 million versus 1.878 million expected and 1.89 million last week. The labor market continues to be strong. Now if we could just turn the manufacturing battleship around.

Nothing much is expected from the economic calendar today. Next week, though, we get the CPI complex rolling out beginning on Tuesday. We get some manufacturing numbers on Thursday. As well as retail sales. Maybe there's something there to move the markets one way or the other?