Weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest since the Covid shutdown began last year, and the Nasdaq and S&P both closed at record highs yet again as investors showed their confidence in current economic conditions.
According to CNBC, the first-time unemployment insurance claims were 340,000 for the week, their lowest since March of 2020. It’s a big positive a day before the August jobs report comes out, in which economists are anticipating a fairly solid report.
Many investors and analysts are watching to see how the Federal Reserve responds to the report tomorrow, as a positive reporting could equate to a more rapid tapering by the Fed. Federal Chairman Powell has indicated that a strong jobs report would be needed to signal the central bank to begin to dismantle the bond-buying program enacted during Covid.
“With jobless claims hitting a pandemic low, there’s definitely some optimism as we look ahead to the full jobs picture tomorrow,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E-Trade. “We could experience a bit of a tug and a pull — on the one hand, a solid jobs report is a positive indication of economic recovery, and on the other, it backs up the Fed’s case to begin tapering.”
For now, markets look hopeful as they continue their record-setting trends of this year.
“The relentless march higher on low volatility in U.S. equities continues, and with breadth, volume positioning, and sentiment measures all positive in our view, we look for the rally to extend further into new highs yet,” said Credit Suisse Wednesday in a note.
TQQQ Offers 3x Leveraged Gains
The ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ ) is a leveraged ETF that seeks a 3x return on the daily performance of the Nasdaq 100 Index before fees and taxes.
The exposure resets daily and does not provide a simple 3x multiplier on the return of the underlying index.
As such, TQQQ should be monitored at least daily by investors.
As a leveraged fund, TQQQ carries greater risks than non-leveraged benchmarked funds.
If the fund is held over a period of time longer than a single day, and the underlying Nasdaq-100 index remains trendless, oscillating without establishing a clear upward or downward trend, TQQQ can lose money.
However, in times of a clear upward trend, TQQQ can outperform the index due to compounding.
TQQQ has an expense ratio of 0.95% with a contractual waiver that ends 9/30/21.
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