Good morning contrarians! Welcome to the Daily Contrarian, our morning look at events likely to move markets. It is Friday, Feb. 7. Jobs Day.
Be sure to read the monthly portfolio update!
State of Play
Stocks moved little yesterday in another quiet session. As we eye our board of indicators for signs of direction at 0530 ET, things are pretty quiet ahead of non-farm payrolls:
Stock index futures are flat as a board, with no major US index moving at all from the break-even point;
Commodities are seeing some signs of life, with copper up 1.3% to trade at its highest level since September and WTI crude oil up 1% to trade north of $71/barrel;
Cryptos aren’t doing anything. Bitcoin is down 1% to trade around $97,500;
Bonds are unchanged. The 10-year yields 4.44%.
Today’s Known Events
The focus shifts back to the economy, specifically the labor market, after several days of earnings. It’s the first Friday of the month so non-farm payrolls are out at 0830. This will command the lion’s share of attention today (something unexpected from the White House notwithstanding). Economists who were surveyed expect 169,000 new jobs, to keep the unemployment rate at 4.1%.
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