Wednesday's Market Update (March 8, 2023)

09 Mar 2023 by rate3

On Wednesday, Powell continued his testimony to members of the legislature, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics published its January Job Openings report. None of these were aimed at massaging traders' enthusiasm. Powell reiterated his horror stories, which were already familiar to all of us, and JOLTS came out lower than in the previous month but still larger than what was anticipated by analysts.

The number of openings decreased to 10.8 million from December, compared to market expectations of 10.5 million. The largest cuts occurred in construction (-240,000), food (-204,000), and finance (-100,000). On the other hand, increases were observed in transportation, warehousing, and utilities (+94,000) and in manufacturing (+50,000).

On the opening of NASDAQ (11553), it first reacted to fundamentals by dipping to 11487, but then recovered, driven by technicals, and closed barely in the green at 11576. The BTC dynamics were similar, with an opening of 21989 and a closing of 21992.