U.S. stock exchange traded funds were lower Wednesday morning on global debt jitters but the main event this week is Friday’s report on nonfarm payrolls for June.
“On the economic front, this should be a quiet week with the exception of Friday’s jobs report,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JP Morgan Funds.
“Analysts may be marking up their estimates following a good ISM manufacturing number,” he wrote in an outlook. “However, the overall pace of economic growth in the second quarter (which appears to be in the neighborhood of 2%-3%), suggests that a second consecutive monthly payroll gain of below 100,000 is quite possible. Wednesday’s ISM non-manufacturing survey and unemployment claims on Thursday will also help set expectations for Friday’s report.”
Stocks are taking a breather after the iShares S&P 500 (NYSEArca: IVV) rallied nearly 6% last week. [S&P 500 ETFs Lift Off]
The move higher on the week erased more than 70% of the correction in the U.S. stock market since the end of April, Kelly noted. [Stock ETFs Hold the Line Despite Bearish Headwinds.]
“In addition, we are edging up on the earnings season, and while this week we will see no S&P 500 companies report, early indications are that when companies do begin to report next week they are likely to reveal solid year-over-year profit increases, despite the lackluster recovery,” the strategist wrote.
U.S. stock futures slipped Wednesday following a rate hike in China and a Moody’s downgrade of Portugal’s debt rating. [Portugal, China Rattle Markets]
iShares S&P 500
Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.