Newscasts - US Morning Call: Markets steady at record highs ahead of jobs update

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05/12/2024 13:08

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Source: 'Reuters - Business videos'

Description: Traders this morning await their final jobs update ahead of
Friday's much-anticipated monthly employment report. They may just be an hors
d'oeuvre before tomorrow's non-farm payrolls, but they were enough to keep
Wall Street in suspended animation
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Video Transcript:

Markets hold at record-highs, ahead of another jobs update. I'm Thomas Warner
with your US Morning Call. Traders this morning await their final jobs update
ahead of Friday's much anticipated monthly employment report. It may just be
an ordeal before tomorrow's non-farm payrolls, but so far, they are keeping
the market in suspended animation. All three major Wall Street indexes hit
fresh record-highs on Wednesday, riding a wave of optimism over more Fed rate
cuts. Even cautious remarks from Jerome Powell yesterday failed to puncture
hopes for a cut in two-weeks-time, he told the New York Times that the economy
is in a better place now than he was expecting it to be when he was speaking
back in September, when the rate cutting cycle began, he appeared to be
signaling his support for slowing the pace of future cuts. But markets are
still 75% certain that another reduction is due on December 18. The markets
may not be top of everybody's agenda. On Thursday, giving the shocking murder
on Wednesday of United Health Insurance CEO 50-year-old, father of two, Brian
Thompson was shot dead by a masked gunman in New York as he arrived at the
company's investor conference. The perpetrator remains at large. We asked one
analyst for her perspective.

I'm still in shocked and processing the fatal shooting this morning of Brian
Thompson, a very well-respected executive. All reports are that very affable
and approachable. I think this attack this morning is going to reverberate
through a lot of top companies. It highlights the vulnerability of top
executives. Brian Thompson wasn't even in the news that much. It's not like he
was a celebrity executive, but certainly well-known and well respected.

Well, let's turn to some of Thursday's developing stories. Now, perhaps the
single biggest is Bitcoin, finally surpassing $100,000. It's surged past that
psychological ceiling during Asian trading, boosted by president-elect Trump's
nomination of pro-crypto, Paul Atkins to run the SEC. It's given Wall Street's
crypto stocks a lift ahead of the bell. Clothing retailer American Eagles
moved the other way, though it's set to open 15% lower after reducing its
growth forecast. It's one of many Main Street brands warning that this year's
compressed holiday season is likely to be a relatively weak one. Dollar
General are due to report after tonight's bell. Staying with consumers, and
the maker of Gillette razors say that they're taking preemptive action to
protect their margins for the new Trump presidency. Procter and Gamble were
using Swedish and Japanese metal for their famous multi-bladed razors, but
concern over trade tariffs mean that they're now already using cheaper Indian
metal. And finally, a bipartisan group of senators have criticized US airlines
today, saying that their rising fees are unfair and inconsistent. Senator
Richard Blumenthal said, “airlines these days view their customers as a
little more than walking piggy banks to be shaken down for every possible
dime.” And that's your US Morning Call