Month: May 2023

(C) Reuters.

Investing.com — Job openings in the U.S. rose in April, breaking three straight months of declines, in a potential sign of lingering labor market tightness that could impact the Federal Reserve’s ongoing fight to corral elevated inflation.

The Labor Department’s monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, also known as the JOLTS report, showed that job vacancies totaled 10.1 million on the final day of last month. The figure is higher than the upwardly revised mark of 9.75M in March and well above forecasts of 9.78M.

Meanwhile, layoffs and discharges decreased by 264,000 to 1.6M, bringing the rate in relation to the broader workforce down to 1.0% from 1.2% in the prior month.

In a tweet, Kathy Jones, chief fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab, said the numbers indicate that “the job market is still healthy.”

Although the data runs a month behind the all-important nonfarm payrolls report, Fed officials have been keeping a close eye on it as they attempt to gauge price growth.

The U.S. central bank has targeted a softening in the labor market as a key pillar of its long-running campaign of aggressive interest rate hikes. The Fed funds rate now stands at between 5.00% to 5.25%, up from near-zero in March 2022.

By Davit Kirakosyan

Here is your Pro Recap of the biggest analyst cuts you may have missed since yesterday: downgrades at Ambarella, Hibbett Sports, NeoGames, and Rain Therapeutics.

InvestingPro subscribers got this news first. Never miss another market-moving headline.

Ambarella downgraded following disappointing guidance

KeyBanc downgraded Ambarella (NASDAQ:AMBA) to Sector Weight from Overweight following Q1 earnings yesterday.

Shares were down more than 16% in recent trading today after the chipmaker reported a weaker-than-expected outlook for Q2.

KeyBanc mentioned several reasons for the downgrade, including (1) limited design wins in non-China auto despite significant investments in CV, (2) the Continental/Bosch wins have only resulted in limited progress, and (3) the pivot to AI inferencing is concerning as it may distract from achieving greater success in auto with CV3.

Hibbett Sports downgraded at BofA Securities

BofA Securities downgraded Hibbett Sports (NASDAQ:HIBB) to Underperform from Buy and cut its price target to $35.00 from $85.00, citing a “significant slowdown” after the company cut its full-year forecast last week.

Management now expects a full-year profit of $7-$7.75, down from the prior $9.5-$10 forecast. Comparable sales are expected to fall low-single digits.

Despite its cautious outlook for the near future in terms of consumer behavior, BofA Securities are confident that the company is in a strong position to sustain growth and expand its market share in the long run.

Hibbett shares were down nearly 5% in recent trading.

2 more downgrades

Macquarie downgraded Neogames (NASDAQ:NGMS) to Neutral from Outperform. The company reported its Q1 results earlier this month, missing revenue expectations.

Roth/MKM downgraded Rain Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RAIN) to Neutral from Buy and cut its price target to $1.20 from $2.00 after the company provided an update on milademetan clinical programs.

The company will suspend enrollment in the ongoing milademetan Phase 2 MANTRA-2 basket trial and has terminated plans for initiation of the Phase 1/2 MANTRA-4 combination trial.

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(C) Reuters.

Investing.com — U.S. stocks are falling as investors await a key vote on the debt ceiling deal.

At 11:06 ET (15:06 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 263 points or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.8% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.7%.

The House is expected to vote later today on the deal, which lifts the debt ceiling to January 2025, limits spending and reclaims funds allocated to fight COVID and bolster the Internal Revenue Service. Passage would send it to the Senate, where lawmakers would have to act quickly to meet a June 5 deadline after which the U.S. could risk default.

The unresolved matter has weighed on markets for weeks, though recent breakthroughs have lifted tech stocks. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both set to end May on a positive note, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq could notch its best performance for May in three years.

Investors are also looking to Friday’s jobs report for May, which is expected to show job growth slowed but still rose 180,000. Data released Wednesday showed employers had 10.1 million job openings as of the end of April, more than expected.

The Federal Reserve will be closely studying the jobs report as it heads into its next meeting in June. Expectations are rising that the policymakers will raise interest rates again, by another quarter of a percentage point.

Shares of PC maker HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) fell 3.4% after it reported a drop in sales as consumers spend less on personal computers. Shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) also fell 7% as the maker of network and other equipment fell short of expectations.

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) shares rose earlier but then turned lower, down 0.3% after the carrier raised its second quarter profit forecast. Data on Tuesday showed holiday weekend air travel edged higher than pre-pandemic levels.