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Briefing.com Summary:
*Buy-the-dip interest is in play following yesterday's losses.
*NVIDIA is up another 0.5% in pre-market trading, providing support for the broader market.
*The list of possible Fed Chair nominees has been whittled down to five from 11.
Okay, the major indices finished lower yesterday, so everybody knows what must happen today. There must be an effort to buy that dip, right?
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are up five points and are trading 0.1% above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 12 points and are trading in line with fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 72 points and are trading 0.1% above fair value.
What remains to be seen is if there is a sustainability factor behind the pre-open, buy-the-dip action. There was a push higher at yesterday's open, and then the market rolled over in a broad-based manner that looked conciliatory more than anything else.
That is, there was a universal recognition that an air of complacency had entered the market and that it was incumbent on market participants to let out some of that air. That is exactly what happened. Nothing more, really, and nothing less. It was a day to take some money off the table.
NVIDIA (NVDA), though, is still sitting at the table. The AI leader bucked yesterday's trend, gaining another 1.8% on a breakout to a new record high. Today, it is up 0.5% in pre-market trading, leaving it well ahead of the broader market.
The positive disposition exhibited by NVIDIA has been a mainstay of support throughout the recovery from the April lows. Other factors helping today specifically are Fed Governor Waller's (FOMC) acknowledgment in a CNBC interview that more rate cuts are needed, Israel and Hamas signing a ceasefire agreement, and Treasury yields sliding.
The 2-yr note yield is down one basis point to 3.57%, while the 10-yr note yield is down six basis points to 4.09%. Those moves have occurred alongside yields dropping in other sovereign bond markets, Fed Governor Waller's remarks, and reports that Treasury Secretary Bessent has trimmed his list of Fed Chair candidates to five: Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, Fed Governor Chris Waller, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, NEC Director Kevin Hassett, and BlackRock's Fixed Income CIO Rick Rieder.
Those candidates are all viewed as being predisposed to cut rates. The market knew that already with these particular candidates, yet their ascendance as the leading candidates is a timely clarification for a market coming off a rare down day. The president will reportedly make a decision by January.
There is some economic data being released today. The preliminary October University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment (Briefing.com consensus: 54.5; prior 55.1) will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. It is unclear if the September Treasury Budget will be released, but if it is, that report should hit the wires at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Separately, Bloomberg is reporting that the BLS is calling back officials to ready the September CPI report so that it can be released by the end of October. The previously scheduled release date is October 15.
Maybe the government shutdown (day 10 now) will be over by then, or perhaps not. The stock market, for its part, has yet to show that it really cares about the shutdown.
