Yes, that was a down day yesterday that saw each of the major indices lose at least 1.0%. The losses were paced by tech stocks and mega-cap stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the surprise meter of 1-10, that should register about 1. It should have been virtually no surprise that those stocks would be subjected to some selling interest after the run they have had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This morning, however, there is some buy-the-dip action that is helping them and the equity futures market rebound. On the surprise meter of 1-10, that should register about 1. It’s little surprise that there would be a buy-the-dip bid, because market participants are aware that the buy-the-dip trade has proven successful many times over since the lows last October. Accordingly, they will play it until they are surprised by it not working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A much better-than-expected earnings report and outlook from CrowdStrike (CRWD)<\/strong>, which is up 22% in pre-market trading, has energized the buy-the-dip approach in the growth stock\/tech stock space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, the S&P 500 futures are up 31 points and are trading 0.6% above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 165 points and are trading 1.0% above fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 184 points and are trading 0.5% above fair value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mega-cap stocks are flexing some pre-market muscle too. Apple (AAPL)<\/strong> for its part is up 0.8%; and NVIDIA (NVDA)<\/strong>, well, NVIDIA is up 1.8%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This rebound-minded action is happening in front of Fed Chair Powell’s semiannual monetary policy testimony before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prevailing expectation is that Mr. Powell will reiterate that there has been a lot of progress in bringing inflation down, but that the Fed desires to see more data to be more confident that inflation is moving back on a sustainable track to its 2.0% target before cutting rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prepared remarks released a short time ago had the same hues as his policy-minded remarks did following the January 30-31 FOMC meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2-yr note yield is unchanged today at 4.55%, and the 10-yr note yield is also unchanged at 4.14%, sitting quietly before the Fed Chair’s testimony and in the wake of an ADP Employment Change Report for February that was soft, but not unduly squishy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Private-sector payrolls increased by 140,000 in February (Briefing.com consensus 150,000) following an upwardly revised 111,000 (from 107,000) in January. Interestingly, a 5.1% pay gain for job-stayers was the smallest since August 2021, yet the 7.6% increase for job-changers was up from January and the first increase since November 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pay increases, though, are still outpacing inflation, which is a helpful construct for overall consumer spending activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n