Jobs Report Preview
What’s in Today’s Report:
- Jobs Report Preview
- Oil Market Update and EIA Analysis
Futures are slightly lower following a mostly quiet night of news as the world awaits the results of the latest peace talks today between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine’s cities while another round of peace talks will occur today.
Economic data was slightly underwhelming as Chinese, UK, and EU February composite PMIs slightly missed estimates.
Today’s focus will be on the Ukraine/Russia peace talks and if a cease-fire is agreed to, that will cause another knee-jerk rally in stocks.
Beyond geopolitics, we also get several important economic reports today. The key report is the ISM Services PMI (E: 60.9), and markets will want to see stability in those numbers. We also get Jobless Claims (E: 232K) and Unit Labor Costs (E: 0.3%). The later is a notable inflation indicator and if it’s “hot” that could weigh slightly on stocks.
Finally, we get the second half of Powell’s testimony (10:00 a.m. ET), although we likely won’t get any surprises. Barkin (12:00 p.m. ET) and Williams (6:00 p.m. ET) also speak today but shouldn’t move markets.
