Live4 updates

• Tue, October 1, 2024 at 4:04 PM GMT+2

  Job openings pick up in August, quits rate declines

  Job openings surprisingly increased in August, furthering the narrative that while the labor market is cooling it’s not rapidly slowing.

  New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Wednesday showed there were 8.04 million jobs open at the end of August, an increase from the 7.71 million seen in July. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the report to show job openings ticked up slightly to 7.67 million in August.

  July’s figure was revised higher from the 7.67 million open jobs initially reported.

  The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) also showed 5.31 million hires were made during the month, down from the 5.41 from July. The hiring rate hit 3.3% in August down from the 3.4% in July. Also in Wednesday’s report, the quits rate, a sign of confidence among workers, tumbled to 1.9%, its lowest level since June 2020.

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  Tue, October 1, 2024 at 3:34 PM GMT+2

  Stocks off to slow October start

  US stocks opened lower on Tuesday to kick off the first trading day of October and the fourth quarter.

  The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) slid roughly 0.4%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell about 0.3% after both major indexes secured a fresh record close on Monday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also moved to the downide, dropping around 0.3%.

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  Tue, October 1, 2024 at 3:19 PM GMT+2

  Stellantis stock dips further on Jeep recall over fire risks

  Jeep-maker Stellantis (STLA) edged down 1% in pre-market trading Tuesday after issuing a recall for over 150,000 hybrid Jeep SUVs over a “potential fire risk.”

  The dip in Stellantis shares comes just a day after the stock plummeted 12.5% in reaction to the automaker’s gloomy outlook for its North American operations. Stellantis — which also manufactures Dodge and Ram cars — said it expects to record profit margins of 5.5% to 7% for the full year, rather than its previous double-digit guidance. To weather deteriorating conditions in the global auto industry, the automaker has planned cost-cutting measures and discounts, Yahoo Finance reporter Pras Subramanian explained on Market Domination T.

  Meanwhile, the newly-issued recall affects 2020-2024 Jeep Wrangler 4xe and 2022-2024 Jeep Cherokee 4xe SUVs. The company said it found 13 fires linked to the issue in an internal investigation, but it estimates that only 5% of recalled vehicles exhibit the fire risk.

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  Tue, October 1, 2024 at 2:47 PM GMT+2

  Barclays pulls no punches on Apple

  Barclays analyst Tim Long dropped the mic on Apple (AAPL) this morning in a new note, calling out weak demand for the iPhone 16.

  Here’s what Long had to say:

  “There was a lot of news about increased iPhone builds in early July, a few weeks after the introduction of Apple Intelligence. Based on our recent supply chain channel checks, we believe AAPL may just have cut roughly 3 million units at a key semiconductor component in iPhones for the December quarter, which if confirmed would be the earliest build cut in recent history. Our sell-through checks point to 15% declines year over year for global iPhone 16 in the first week of sales. We also tracked iPhone availability across geographies globally, which suggest softer demand for IP16 relative to last year. Wait times across major geographies we tracked were much shorter vs. last year. While the supply chain constraints on IP15 pro models extended lead times last year, it nevertheless points to potentially weaker-than-expected demand, especially across US and China. All of the above data points point to softer demand than previously anticipated.”

  Long reiterated an underweight rating on Apple (sell equivalent).