Day Traders Diary

8/31/23

The rally today fizzled as the major averages gravitate back to the unchanged level after four straight days of gains as Wall Street is set to wrap up a down month of August. The Dow slipped over 100 points or 0.34%. The S&P 500 is unchanged while the Nasdaq Composite is higher by 50 points or 0.38%.

Investors are coming off a positive session, with the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq notching a four-day winning streak, trimming their monthly losses. All three benchmarks are down more than 1% for August.

The recent economic data has been coming in weaker than expected. The core personal consumption expenditures index increased 0.2% month-over-month in July and 4.2% year over year, matching estimates from economists polled by Dow Jones. The core PCE is a closely watched inflation indicator by the Federal Reserve.

Salesforce mitigated some of the Dow's losses today with a gain of more than 3% after the software company announced fiscal second-quarter results and third-quarter guidance that exceeded analysts' expectations.

Investors will now turn their attention to non-farm payroll data due out Friday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast 170,000 additions. Traders are holding onto hope that the report will indicate that the economy is slowing meaningfully, and ultimately give the central bank reason to pause benchmark interest rate hikes.