Stock Market Update

The S&P 500 futures are down 18 points and are trading 0.3% below fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are down 140 points and are trading 0.7% below fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 47 points and are trading 0.1% below fair value.

The ADP Employment Change Report for January showed an 183,000 increase in private-sector jobs (Briefing.com consensus 155,000) following an upwardly revised 176,000 (from 122,000) in December.

The key takeaway from the report is that the entirety of the increase was in the service-providing sector (190,000). There were 6,000 fewer jobs in the goods-producing sector.

The December Trade Balance Report showed a widening in the deficit to $98.4 billion (Briefing.com consensus -$98.0 billion) from a downwardly revised $78.9 billion (from -$78.2 billion) in November. December exports were $7.1 billion less than November exports while December imports were $12.4 billion more than November imports.

The key takeaway from the report is that the big jump in imports was presumably a function of trying to get ahead of possible tariff actions.