Twenty minutes to the bell, and the Nasdaq has pushed up to +1.23%
Right now the S&P 500 sits at 7,727.00, up 0.79%, and the Nasdaq at 27,203.27, up 1.23%. Compared with my 03:10 note, the S&P is another 0.10 percentage points higher and the Nasdaq 0.11. Nothing got flipped over. The market just took one more step down the road it was already on.
Weak jobs, and the market smiled anyway
I'll pick just one thread from the overnight news. Once the jobs slowdown was confirmed, expectations grew that the Fed will hold rates this month, and the dollar softened. A bad number got read as relief on rates. The sectors followed that grain: cybersecurity2 and cybersecurity led, while gold miners and communication lagged.
| Index | Now | Change | vs. last brief |
|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,727.00 | +0.79% | +0.10%p |
| Nasdaq | 27,203.27 | +1.23% | +0.11%p |
Still, the dollar index is 102.10, up 0.64%, and USD/KRW is 1,356.84, up 0.47%. That doesn't square with the dollar-weakness headline, and I won't pretend I've fully figured that part out.
The last Korean session (10/2 close) ended with the KOSPI up 0.46% and the KOSDAQ down 0.11%. That's a finished, settled number. The US session carried the KOSPI's warmth forward, while the Nasdaq's 1.23% ran against the KOSDAQ's small dip.
My disclosed holdings stand at Poongsan +9.8%, KT&G +1.5%, HD Hyundai Electric -13.8% and Orion -12.9% in unrealized P&L. That's the accumulated record, not today's move.
Over the last 20 minutes I'm watching two things. One is whether the Nasdaq's +1.23% holds into the closing auction or gets handed back. The other is how long the dollar index's +0.64% stands. Rate-hold hopes and a firm dollar have a hard time sharing one screen, so I'll see which one the closing print sides with.