Opening Comment — Tuesday, April 01, 2025
DJIA: 42,001.76, up 417.86
S&P 500: 5,611.85, up 30.91
NASDAQ: 17,299.29, down 23.70
Stocks lower ahead of PMI data
Stock futures are lower Tuesday morning as investors are awaiting March manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) and February job openings data. Markets are also awaiting tomorrow’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs. As of 7:19 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 0.5%, while the S&P 500 is down 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 is falling 0.3% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were mixed on Monday as the Market News International’s Chicago PMI for March unexpectedly rose to 47.6. The Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of Dallas Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey’s general business activity index for March unexpectedly declined. The Dow was up 1.0%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1%. The S&P 500 increased 0.6% with 10 of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Consumer Staples sector was the top performer, rising 1.6%, while the Consumer Discretionary sector was the bottom performer, falling 0.2%.
On the data front, the finalized reading of S&P Global’s manufacturing PMI for March is expected to come in at 49.9, slightly up from the previous reading of 49.8. February construction spending is expected to have increased 0.3% month-over-month (MOM), versus the prior month’s decrease of 0.2%. The February Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) is forecasted to show job openings of 7.66 million, versus the prior month’s 7.74 million. The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing PMI and prices paid component for March are expected to come in at 49.5 and 64.6, respectively, versus the prior month’s reading of 50.3 and 62.4, respectively. The Dallas Fed will release their Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey.
Across the pond, European stocks are higher in mid-day trading as the eurozone’s preliminary March Consumer Price Index (CPI) cooled as expected to 2.2% year-over-year (YOY) while the core measure cooled more than projected to 2.4% YOY. The unemployment rate of the eurozone fell to 6.1% in February. Finalized March manufacturing PMIs for France, Germany, the eurozone and the U.K. still showed the respective manufacturing sectors in contractionary territory.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly higher as Japan’s first-quarter Tankan report showed still positive sentiment at large manufacturers and improved sentiment at large non-manufacturers. China’s private manufacturing PMI from Caixin rose to 51.2 in March. Meanwhile, the finalized Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing PMI was revised upward to 48.4 and S&P Global’s Manufacturing PMI for South Korea decreased slightly to 49.1 in March.
In FOREX trading, the dollar is little changed as the Reserve Bank of Australia kept the cash rate target unchanged at 4.10%.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.5% higher at $71.85/barrel following President Donald Trump’s remarks on potential secondary tariffs for Russian crude oil importers and potential strikes on Iran.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.4% higher at $3,135.10/ounce.