Let's get to the big story breakdown ahead of tomorrow's CPI figures, producer prices coming in cooler than expected.
Now US stocks hit fresh records in the previous session as investors weighed the latest jobs revisions figures and looked ahead to inflation figures.
The revision from the BLS showed the economy likely added 911,000 fewer jobs than previously expected.
Also, as we head into today's session, we will be looking at an IPO.
Well joining me on the floor is Jonathan Corpina, senior managing partner.
At Meriden Equity Partners, Jonathan, great to have you on.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Thanks for having me.
Well, we're seeing a CO pick on the trading floor today ahead of Clarinna's IPO, but of course inflation figures in the spotlight ahead of next week's Fed meeting.
Are you expecting to build on to gains for the major equity averages today?
That's what it looks like now.
We're getting some confirmation in the idea that the Fed is going to be cutting rates next week.
You know, the market likes transparency.
It likes certainty and information.
So as we're leading up into this meeting, the more information that we're getting from economic data that puts us in a position to feel more confident that the Fed is going to make a move, it's clear they're going to help this market move higher.
Now what the market does when the Fed comes out with their announcement next week, how much do they move and what their, what their wording is their verbiages moving forward, their outlook moving forward is going to be interesting.
But for now it just it feels to us like the Fed will be cutting rates.
The economic data that we've seen is putting us down that path and the market.
It is clearly liking that that sentiment now and in the past 24 hours, we've had a lot of corporate news to digest, but when we think about these sector gains for the S&P 500, the usual suspects continue to see double digit percentage gains, communications services as well as IT industrials, as well as the financials.
But overnight we got earnings out from Oracle and we've been focusing on AI.
So did that come as a surprise to you?
I think the fact that They missed as much as they did.
Yes, that does come as a surprise, but when we listen to these reports and focusing on AI, it's you kind of move on to the next thing quickly, and the headlines of their their contracts that they've signed that they have lined up for the next few quarters producing significant amount of revenue tied to AI.
Anytime we have that type of information, it's clearly going to help our markets.
We're seeing it in the tech sector.
We're seeing it rise all the other stocks. it which kind of helps just the overall sentiment of the markets, and of course as we head into tomorrow's session we'll be watching out for those consumer inflation figures on the heels of those producer prices figures we got earlier this morning.
But as we move forward into the rest of 2025, what catalysts are you paying attention to?
Yeah, we're still paying attention to a few things just because the Fed is meeting next week and potentially cutting rates next week doesn't mean that that conversation completely.
Of the table, right, we're continually talking about what the Fed's next move will be after that and what they're going to do for the remainder of the year.
We're still going to talk about tariffs and the implications of that.
We've got trade deals that have been on the table, off the table, renegotiated, which so we haven't, we haven't gotten a major headline in that just yet, and we're going to be looking for that.
And clearly our geopolitical risks that are still out there.
You and I have been talking for a long time.
I feel like we talk about the same geopolitical.
That are out there that continue to linger out there.
So I think you kind of mix all of this together, you know, there might be some headwinds that's out there and then you couple that with the market trading and we'll take it in a good way as high as it is trading and hitting highs and the good returns that we're seeing might see some reason for some profit taking coming up into the next quarter.
And speaking of which, as you mentioned, geopolitics top of mind this morning, especially as we wake up to hear about the latest news in Russia.
As well as Western Europe, not to mention the Middle East.
So that is something we'll continue to keep our eyes on, especially when it comes to commodity prices.
But as you mentioned, we're continuing to watch levels.
So what are you watching for in the S&P 500, especially after yesterday's record highs?
Yeah, I mean watching the S&P now, we're at, we're at these highs now.
I think we're just looking for some sort of either stability, trading in a range for quite some time, or we're going to see some break again.
I feel like our markets.
We are probably overpriced at this point.
We've gone too far, too fast since those April lows, and we might see the market just crack a little bit if we get any negative headline news.
If you look at the VIX, the VIX is now trading back down again below 14% level there, 15% level there.
I think we need to stay within here to get some base to our markets.
But again, we are happy with the returns that we've seen so far.
We're happy with the progress the market has taken, but the same headwinds.
Still in front of us and very quickly we have less than 60 seconds here so I do want to ask you, what are you watching when it comes to the options market?
We're just looking for outside activity outlayer activity, activity that seems to be making a footprint that normally would be quiet, right, and especially as we're training at these higher levels, we're looking for options, strike prices and options activities that would indicate some sell pressure coming up.
OK, Jonathan, great having you here today.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Have a great day.
You too.
