What’s in Today’s Report:
- Growth and Defensives vs. Value and Cyclicals (Q1 Review, Q2 Outlook)
- Volatility in Perspective (Chart)
- Chinese Manufacturing PMI Takeaways
Stock futures are sharply lower with most global equities this morning after President Trump warned of “painful” weeks ahead in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak, stating that deaths could approach 250K in the U.S. alone.
Economically, manufacturing PMI data was mixed o/n with the Chinese numbers surprising to the upside while the EU data largely missed estimates which is contributing to the risk-off money flows this morning.
Today, the ADP Employment Report (E: -180K) kicks off jobs week before we will get two more economic releases after the open: ISM Manufacturing Index (E: 44.5) and Construction Spending (E: 0.6%). Additionally, Boston Fed President, Eric Rosengren, is scheduled to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET.
All of those catalysts have the potential to move markets as we begin a new quarter today however the coronavirus outbreak remains, by far, the single most important influence on stocks right now and investors will be watching any press briefings from the White House or developments regarding treatments or data on the growth rate of new cases themselves which, according to our Sevens Report U.S. Coronavirus Daily Growth Rate Tracker, is favorably continuing to slow towards a one-month low this week.