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Investing.com — Tech stocks got a huge lift from Meta Platforms’ (NASDAQ:META) unexpectedly strong showing in the fourth quarter, pushing the Nasdaq up over 3% during the day, though the momentum lost some steam in the last hour of trading.
Investors are getting a clearer sense that the Federal Reserve’s actions to cool the economy mean it might be getting close to the end of its tightening spree, even though Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank still has more work to do. The outlook for the terminal rate is for just over 5%, and the Fed raised its benchmark rate another quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, to 4.50% to 4.75%.
Futures traders are betting that the Fed will raise rates by another quarter of a percentage point in March.
Friday brings a critical piece of data for the Fed to consider: the jobs report for January. Analysts expect the economy added fewer jobs than in December, and they expect the unemployment rate to tick higher.
Investors will get fresh readings on the state of the American consumer when retailers and consumer product makers report their most recent quarterly results this month.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Jobs Friday
The government’s report on jobs in January is expected out at 8:30 ET (13:30 GMT). Analysts expect the economy added 185,000 jobs in the quarter, down from 223,000 the prior month. The unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 3.6% from 3.5%.
2. Sanofi earnings
Sanofi ADR (NASDAQ:SNY) is expected to report earnings of 92 cents on revenue of $12.2 billion.
3. Cigna earnings
Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) is expected to report earnings of $4.87 on revenue of $45.9B.
