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The stock market has suffered four straight losing weeks. It is aiming to avoid a fifth, having pushed higher in Monday's trade. The catalyst for the advance remained rooted in the idea that the market had gotten oversold on a short-term basis and is due for a bounce.
A contention that the U.S. Trade Representative is looking to restore some order to the announcement of reciprocal tariffs on April 2 helped sentiment along with a turnaround in the mega-cap stocks.
The latter are a bit soft this morning, which is weighing on an equity futures market that is also digesting reports of an Israeli airstrike on Gaza, considering an impending vote in Germany's Bundestag about debt reform, and remaining cognizant that President Trump and President Putin are having a call today to discuss a possible ceasefire in the Ukraine-Russia War.
There is a notable corporate headline, too, with Alphabet (GOOG) announcing an agreement to acquire Wiz, Inc., a cloud security platform company, for $32 billion in cash.
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are down 24 points and are trading 0.4% below fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 132 points and are trading 0.6% below fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 122 points and are trading 0.3% below fair value.
This morning's economic data featured stronger-than-expected housing starts, although buyers overall appear a bit hesitant in front of NVIDIA's (NVDA) GTC event, which features a keynote address from Jensen Huang at 1:00 p.m. ET, the uncertainty surrounding the Trump-Putin call, and some understandable misgivings about the sustainability of the recent rebound effort.
- Total housing starts increased 11.2% month-over-month in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.501 million (Briefing.com consensus 1.385 million), with single-unit starts up 11.4%. Building permits were down 1.2% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.456 million. Single-unit permits were down 0.2%.
- The key takeaway from the report is that starts activity was bolstered by the return of better weather, which was reflected in the 18.3% increase in housing starts in the South region (they were down 23.0% in January).
- February import prices were up 0.4% month-over-month following an upwardly revised 0.4% increase (from 0.3% in January). Excluding fuel, import prices increased 0.3% on the heels of a 0.1% increase in January. Export prices were up 0.1% month-over-month after a 1.3% increase in January. Excluding agricultural products, export prices also rose 0.1% month-over-month following a 1.5% jump in January.
- The key takeaway from the report is the inflationary shift in the year-over-year readings. Nonfuel import prices were up 2.0% versus down 0.6% for the 12 months ending in February 2024. Non-agricultural export prices increased 2.2% year-over-year versus being down 1.2% for the 12 months ending in February 2024.
Separately, the Fed begins its FOMC meeting today. The policy decision and the Summary of Economic Projections will be published at 2:00 p.m. ET Wednesday. Fed Chair Powell's press conference will follow at 2:30 p.m. ET.
