Adobe Stock
Stock futures climb, Oil and bonds inch up, Jobless claims rise, Economy growth slower than expected, Biden to push new banking rules, Wall Street bonuses fall 26%, Call for FDIC to raise insurance limit, and more financial news.
Stock futures rose across the board on Thursday after a strong showing on Wednesday, gold and oil were up, but bonds were muted, Yahoo Finance reports.
S&P 500 futures advanced 23 points or +0.57%, Dow Jones futures shot up 177 points or +0.54%, and NASDAQ futures rose 76 points or +0.59% as of 9:20 AM EDT.
The benchmark US 10-Year Treasury inched up +0.002 for a yield of 3.568%, while the 2-Year Treasury rose +0.054 to yield 4.134% as of 9:21 AM EDT.
In oil futures, WTI crude advanced + 0.97 % and was trading at $73.68 a barrel, while the benchmark Brent crude was up +0.72 % and trading at $780.84 as of 8:24 AM CDT.
Initial filings for unemployment for the week ending March 25 climbed to 198,000, up 7,000 from the previous week. This is higher than the estimate of 195,000, the department of labor reported on Thursday. Continuing claims, which are calculated a week behind, rose by 4,000 to 1.689 million, which was below an estimate of 1.6935 million, CNBC reported.
While the US economy grew 2.6% during the fourth quarter of 2022, the growth was nonetheless at a slower pace than previously estimated, which was 2.9%, then revised downward last month to 2.7%, CNN reported. The 2.6% number represents inflation-adjusted gross domestic product, the third and final reading for the quarter by the US Department of Commerce.
The Biden administration is preparing to call on federal banking regulators to impose new rules on midsize banks, according to two people familiar with internal discussions, Yahoo Finance reported. However, reports say it is unlikely the administration will ask Congress to undo a deregulation law passed five years ago with bipartisan support.
The average bonus on Wall Street fell by 26% last year, dropping from $240,400 in 2021 down to $176,720 in 2022, according to estimates released Thursday by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, CNN reported. Nonetheless, the bonus figure in 2022 is more than double the median annual income for US households.
Billionaire investor William Ackman, who has years of experience advising corporations on how to perform better, is now calling on the US government to have the FDIC set higher insurance limits, beyond the current $250,000 per account, to safeguard the banking system and increase consumer confidence, Yahoo Finance reported.
“Banking is a confidence sensitive business,” and regulators’ conflicting public statements have “reduced investor, business, and consumer confidence in our banking system,” Ackman wrote. He went on to call the individualized, bank-by-bank deposit guarantee approach a “policy mistake,” adding it could impair the economy at a time when regional banks are instrumental in the real estate and construction loan business.
