International oil prices plummeted, and the settlement price of US crude oil and crude oil fell by more than 5.6%, hitting the biggest one-day drop since September 2022. Light crude for November delivery settled at $84.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 5.61%. London Brent crude for December delivery was at $85.81 a barrel, down 5.62%.
On the news, EIA gasoline inventories in the United States for the week ending September 29 recorded their largest increase since the week ending January 7, 2022. Saudi Arabia will continue to implement 1 million barrels per day of oil production cuts until the end of December 2023. Russia will maintain its current export reduction plan of 300,000 barrels per day until the end of the year.
In terms of individual stocks, Tuesday's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that Apple CEO Tim Cook recently sold a total of 511,000 shares of Apple stock. The shares were calculated to have a pre-tax value of approximately $87.8 million (RMB 640 million) and an after-tax income of $41.5 million (RMB 303 million).
US stocks rally after poor data
On October 4, local time, the three major stock indexes of the US stock market collectively rebounded, and the Nabbing index rose by more than 1%. By the close, the Dow was up 0.39% at 33,129.55; The S&P 500 rose 0.81% to 4,263.75. The Nasdaq rose 1.35 percent to 13,236.01.
The latest data show that the growth rate of private employment in the United States, known as "small non-farm", has contracted off the cliff, slowing down far more than market expectations. The ADP employment report said that the U.S. ADP private sector employment increased by 89,000 in September, the smallest increase since January 2021, with 153,000 expected versus 177,000 previously. The report showed construction payrolls rose 16,000 in September after gaining 6,000 in August. In addition, the year-over-year growth rate of wages slowed to 5.9%, falling for the 12th consecutive month.
Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, said the decline in employment had widened this month. In addition, we have seen a steady decline in wages over the past 12 months.
The key clue given by the September ADP employment report is that the long-tight labor market may be loosening, which gives the Federal Reserve some reason to stop raising interest rates.
However, the "small non-farm" figure could differ significantly from the official data due to be released on Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is currently expecting 170,000 new non-farm payrolls. There was also an unexpectedly sharp rebound in the number of job vacancies announced yesterday.
Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, believes the ADP data could mark the beginning of a downward inflection point in the labor force. Crisafulli added that the recent plunge in Treasurys is out of line with the overall economic data and could be followed by a significant rebound, which could help stocks.
Us September Markit services PMI final 50.1, expected 50.2, 50.2 previously. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the final PMI reading for September was a further sign that the US economy had started to cool again after recovering earlier in the summer. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures in the services sector remain troubling. The biggest changes in recent months have been weaker demand for consumer services, such as travel and entertainment, and sluggish financial services activity. Consumer-oriented service providers reported that the recovery in demand in the spring had gradually lost steam amid rising interest rates and rising living costs amid reduced savings. In the financial services sector, financial conditions are tightening and uncertainty about the outlook is dampening confidence. Activity levels in both sectors are now falling, depriving them of a major source of support for the broader economic expansion.
Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, also said the U.S. economy looks set to enter the fourth quarter on a weak footing, suggesting a slowdown in GDP growth towards the end of the year. At the same time, the average price of goods and services continues to rise at a rate well above the pre-pandemic average, with service fee inflation remaining particularly stubborn, in part due to the recent increase in oil prices.
The Institute for Supply Management's overall services index fell nearly 1 point to 53.6. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, and the September reading was in line with economists' median forecast. The ISM business activity index rose 1.5 points to 58.8. While growth in business activity accelerated to a three-month high, a nearly six-point drop in a gauge of orders suggested demand for services may be starting to weaken. The order gauge hit a six-month high in August.
Anthony Nieves, chairman of the ISM Services Survey Committee, said most respondents remained optimistic about business conditions, while some expressed concern about potential headwinds.
Plunging oil prices
International oil prices plummeted, and the settlement price of US crude oil and crude oil fell by more than 5.6%, hitting the biggest one-day drop since September 2022. Light crude for November delivery fell $5.01, or 5.61%, to settle at $84.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. London Brent crude for December delivery fell $5.11, or 5.62 per cent, to $85.81 a barrel.
Data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed that supplies of finished motor gasoline fell to about 8 million barrels per day in the week ended Sept. 29, the lowest level since the beginning of the year. EIA's gasoline inventories rose by 6.481 million barrels, well above market expectations of 161,000 barrels. The increase in gasoline inventories was the largest since the week ending Jan. 7, 2022.
Earlier, according to the Saudi Energy Ministry, Saudi Arabia will continue to implement oil production cuts of 1 million barrels per day until the end of December 2023.
On April 2 this year, Saudi Arabia announced that it would cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day from May. On June 4, Saudi Arabia announced after the 35th ministerial meeting of Opec + that it would cut production by an additional 1 million barrels per day for one month in July. Saudi Arabia then extended this additional production cut until the end of September. In September, the Saudi Energy Ministry announced that the kingdom would extend voluntary oil production cuts of 1 million barrels per day, which began in July, until the end of December this year.
Russia also said it will continue to maintain the current 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil export reduction plan until the end of this year.
Russian media also reported that the country may be preparing to lift its diesel export ban in the coming days. Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shuliginov said that the government has been discussing the issue of allowing fuel exports and that further decisions on fuel market regulation will be announced soon.
Affected by this, energy stocks collectively fell, Devon Energy, Sunco Energy fell more than 5%, Imperial Oil fell more than 4%, Western Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Conocophillips, British Petroleum, Petrobras fell more than 3%, Chevron, Shell fell more than 2%.
Apple sells 510,000 shares for more than $300 million
In sector terms, nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose and two fell. The consumer discretionary sector and communications services sector led the gains with gains of 1.97 percent and 1.28 percent, respectively, while the energy sector and utilities sector fell 3.36 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively.
Big tech stocks rose across the board, with Tesla up nearly 6%, bringing its total market value back to $800 billion. Google A rose more than 2%, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook parent Meta, Nvidia rose more than 1%, and Apple rose slightly.
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently sold a total of 511,000 shares of Apple stock, earning $41.5 million (303 million yuan) after taxes.
According to the SEC filing, Cook sold about 270,000 shares on Friday and about 240,000 shares on Monday, at prices ranging from $171.21 to $173.18. The shares were calculated to have a pre-tax value of approximately $87.8 million (640 million yuan) and an after-tax income of $41.5 million. After the sell-off, Cook still owns about 3.28 million Apple shares.
In addition, two Apple senior vice presidents, Deirdre O'Brien and Katherine Adams, each sold $11.3 million in stock.
Apple on Wednesday released a software update to address overheating issues reported by some early buyers of the iPhone 15 Pro series. Apple said the update "provides important bug fixes and security updates that address an issue that could cause iphones to operate at temperatures higher than expected." The update also applies to older iphones and ipads. Some early iPhone 15 Pro users have reported overheating issues with their iphones. Apple on Saturday blamed bugs in apps such as Uber, Instagram and the game Wild Ride 9, as well as in the iPhone software itself.
KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded Apple shares to "sector perform" from "overweight," saying the stock's valuation is near an all-time high but sales growth could slow. Analysts at the bank wrote in a note that the iPhone upgrade cycle is challenging amid slowing consumer spending and that "sales in the U.S. market could struggle." In addition, "Expectations of further accelerated growth in international markets may be too aggressive."
Popular Chinese stocks rose and fell, Xiaopeng Automobile rose more than 3%, NiO rose 2.56%, New Oriental, ideal automobile rose more than 1.5%, and Pinjoduo rose slightly; Yum China, Futu Holdings, Bilibili, Baidu fell more than 1%, shell, Alibaba, JD.com and other small declines.
About 75,000 health care workers go on strike in the largest health care strike in the United States.
According to CCTV news, on October 4, local time, about 75,000 medical workers of the Kaiser Medical Group union coalition went on strike, covering the group's medical institutions in California, Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state and Washington, D.C. It became the largest health care strike action in U.S. history.
Kaiser Permanente is the largest privately held managed care organization in the United States, operating 39 hospitals and nearly 700 health care facilities in eight states, including Hawaii, Washington, California, and Washington, D.C.
The main reasons for the Kaiser Medical Group workers' strike are the tight labor market in the United States, the expiration of union contracts and the rising cost of living caused by high inflation, and many front-line medical workers are struggling to cope with the rising cost of living.
On the evening of September 30, local time, the labor contract between the Kaiser Medical Group Union Coalition and Kaiser Medical Group expired, but the two sides failed to reach a new agreement. Kaiser's union coalition, which represents about 85,000 health care workers nationwide, had made several demands in negotiations with Kaiser, including across-the-board pay increases, improved pension plans and protections against outsourcing. As the two sides failed to reach an agreement, the union's medical workers went on strike in each state for one to three days from October 4.
According to CCTV news, on October 4, local time, about 75,000 medical workers of the Kaiser Medical Group union coalition went on strike, covering the group's medical institutions in California, Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, Washington state and Washington, D.C. It became the largest health care strike action in U.S. history.
Kaiser Permanente is the largest privately held managed care organization in the United States, operating 39 hospitals and nearly 700 health care facilities in eight states, including Hawaii, Washington, California, and Washington, D.C.
The main reasons for the Kaiser Medical Group workers' strike are the tight labor market in the United States, the expiration of union contracts and the rising cost of living caused by high inflation, and many front-line medical workers are struggling to cope with the rising cost of living.
On the evening of September 30, local time, the labor contract between the Kaiser Medical Group Union Coalition and Kaiser Medical Group expired, but the two sides failed to reach a new agreement. Kaiser's union coalition, which represents about 85,000 health care workers nationwide, had made several demands in negotiations with Kaiser, including across-the-board pay increases, improved pension plans and protections against outsourcing. As the two sides failed to reach an agreement, the union's medical workers went on strike in each state for one to three days from October 4.