What happened last week…
The three major indices continued to make gains as the weekly performances were as follows: DJIA (0.59%), S&P 500 (0.62%), NASDAQ (0.95%). Each index achieved its third straight weekly gain and is on pace to finish September higher: DJIA (1.80%), S&P 500 (1.59%), NASDAQ (2.29%).
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa (V) alleging an illegal monopoly over debit payments. In a statement, the DOJ said, “We allege that Visa has unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market.” The complaint states, “More than 60% of debit transactions in the United States run on Visa’s debit network, allowing it to charge over $7 billion in fees each year for processing those transactions.”
The GDP growth rate (final estimate) for Q2 2024 matched expectations and the second estimate as it increased to 3.0%. The Q1 2024 rate of 1.6% was upwardly revised from 1.4%, which was a decrease from the downwardly revised Q4 2023 reading of 3.2% (down from 3.4%) and the lowest growth since the Covid pandemic.
New home sales for August beat expectations (700,000) but decreased to 716,000 from the upwardly revised 751,000 (from 739,000).
According to FactSet, as of September 27, for Q3 2024 the estimated (year-over-year) earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 is 4.6%, which would be the fifth straight quarter of growth. The estimated (year-over-year) revenue growth is expected to be 4.8%, which would be the 16th straight quarter of growth. For Q4 2024, forecasts anticipate earnings growth of 14.9% and revenue growth of 5.3%.
Happeneing this week…
On Tuesday, the manufacturing PMI for September is expected to increase to 48.3 from 47.2, which snapped a streak of four straight monthly declines. It was the 21st contractionary reading (below 50) in the past 22 months. On Thursday, the non-manufacturing PMI for September is expected to decrease to 51.3 from 51.5. The figure has expanded 48 of the previous 51 months.
On Wednesday, the ADP employment change may increase to 110,000 from 99,000. On Friday, the unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.2%, nonfarm payrolls are forecasted to increase to 145,000 from 142,000, and average hourly earnings month-over-month are expected to decrease to 0.3% from 0.4%.
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- The Rockline Team
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