NASDAQ-100. A POTENTIAL SYMMETRY PERHAPS IS THE NEXT BIG THINGPolicymakers at the U.S. central bank on Wednesday held interest rates steady, although Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave investors some hope by signaling a September rate cut could be on the table.
A Day later stocks heavily sold off Thursday (again), with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) tumbling nearly 500 points, as investors’ fears over a recession surfaced.
Some fresh data stoked fears over a possible recession and the notion that the Federal Reserve could be too late to start cutting interest rates. Initial jobless claims rose the most since August 2023. And the ISM manufacturing index, a barometer of factory activity in the U.S., came in at 46.8%, worse than expected and a signal of economic contraction.
After these releases, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped below 4% for the first time since February.
These weak data releases come a day after central bank policymakers chose to keep rates at the highest levels in two decades, when Fed Chair Jerome Powell gave investors some hope by signaling a September rate cut could be on the table.
Labor situations is on the radars also, as fresh unemployment data expected on Friday, August 2.
The Federal Reserve risks further weakening the US economy and tanking US stock markets.
As the unemployment rate has risen in recent months, it has fueled speculation that the strong labor market is cracking and pointing to potential trouble ahead, with full-time employment in the US declining by about 1.23 million jobs over the past 12 months, and part-time employment adding about 1.52 million jobs (May'24 data).
While much of the attention of financial analysts in June and July 2024 was focused on the Fed's rhetoric, inflation and manufacturing statistics, the US unemployment rate, which is recovering from its 55-year lows, is much greater thing.
In technical terms, June'24 will be the 4th month in a row, US unemployment rate is above its 26-week (6-month) simple moving average.
Historical backtest analysis of the entire history of data since the end of World War II indicates that the onset of a recession in the United States is just around the corner.
In any case, such labor market symptoms have always, in all cases without exception, signaled either an already occurring or an imminent US recession.
The main graph (Nasdaq-100 Futures cont. contract) indicates on a potential symmetry for further bearish development. with the nearest target roughly S14'000 mark (that is corresponding also to 5-years SMA).
