Stock Market Waiting for Nonfarm Payroll Later This Week

Economic data for the month of March will soon be released as April kicks off, and the first big set of data is the Nonfarm Payrolls.

Much of the March data is simply speculation at this point. The nonfarm payrolls will be released on Friday, which is likely to be the biggest economic event for the week. Economics predict that about 200,000 jobs were added in March, and that is a low number compared to previous months.

Economists also expect the unemployment rate to drop slightly for March, down just 0.1% to 3.8%. Any data that can show that inflation may be decreasing will be helpful to the stock markets and will spur trading. As inflation numbers look worse, traders will hold off on making risky investments, wary that their stocks may lose value if inflation worsens.

Average hourly earnings should be up for March, with expectations placing the growth at 0.3% compared to February. If that happens, that would take the year-on-year total down to 4.1%. That total was at 4.2% last month.

Stock Markets Open up Slightly

As trading opened for Monday, the Nasdaq Composite was up by 0.55%. The S&P 500 was also up by just 0.11%, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.39%.

The market is up overall, with several tech and pharmaceutical companies leading much of the positive trend. Even though stocks like Intel, Microsoft, and Google are doing mildly well at the moment, they have stayed stable through recent market fluctuations and could prove to be very reliable stocks throughout the first half of the year.

The US economy is not in recession right now, but it could be headed that way if inflation factors continue to look poor. There is currently a lengthy manufacturing decline which could cause problems for the economy as attempts to improve inflation continue.