Thursday's Market Update (Feb 23, 2023)

23 Feb 2023 by rate3

Thursday's Market Update:

At the start of the Thursday session, the Department of Labor released its weekly Unemployment Insurance Report (ending February 18th), which showed that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell by 3K to 192K, below analysts' expectations of 200K. A tight labor market might force some companies to raise wages to attract staff, adding further inflationary pressure.

NASDAQ dropped from 11636 at the opening to 11432 mid-day, reacting to the news. In the afternoon, it attempted to recover, closing at 11591 resulting in a small (-0.4 percent) decline. BTC also dropped from 24007 to 23747, before recovering to 23945 (-0.2 percent).

Furthermore, unexpectedly positive macroeconomic data was released in the morning. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to +0.23 in January from -0.46 in December, and the Kansas Fed Composite Index increased to 0 points in February from -1 point in January. This further complicates the traders' game plan and strengthens the FOMC's hawks.