
Alex Pettee, CFA
Rally Continues Ahead Of Jobs Day [Daily Recap]
The rally continued for U.S. equity markets, which climbed for the forth-straight day as fears over the coronavirus outbreak subside ahead of the closely-watched nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
The S&P 500 finished higher by 0.3%, closing at new record highs for the second-straight day, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added another 88 points after consecutive 400-point gains.
The broad-based commercial Real Estate ETF (VNQ) outperformed on a busy day of REIT earnings, gaining 0.4%, led by the manufactured housing, net lease, and storage REIT sectors.
Mall REIT Macerich was among today's gainers after reporting less-dire-than-expected results while data center REIT CoreSite was a laggard as 2020 guidance fell short of expectations.
Employment data has been quite strong so far this week, but all eyes will be on tomorrow's nonfarm payrolls report. Economists are expecting roughly 160k jobs added with a 3.0% rise in average hourly earnings.
