Labor market in focus, port strike looms ahead: Morning Brief

On today's episode of Morning Brief, Hosts Seana Smith and Madison Mills analyze the market open and discuss some of the biggest stories of the trading day. All three of the major indexes (^DJI,^GSPC, ^IXIC) opened slightly lower on the last trading day of the third quarter. While September is a historically weak month for stocks, markets are on track for one of the strongest in over a decade as they rallied on the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut. Envestnet Solutions co-CIO and group president Dana D’Auria notes that while inflation continues to cool, all eyes have now turned to the state of the labor market. D’Auria stresses the importance of the upcoming September jobs data, explaining that employment data will be the "single biggest factor" weighed by the Fed ahead of its next interest rate decision. She argues that the market has been "overshooting on expectations of the Fed pretty substantially and pretty regularly." With some investors are pricing in another 50-basis-point cut in November, she pushes back, saying, "I wouldn't expect more than another 25-25 this year." As markets enter the fourth quarter, growth is visibly expanding beyond the tech sector. Charles Schwab's Director and Senior Investment Strategist Kevin Gordon explains that there isn't a "definitive leadership shift" from tech to defensive sectors. Instead, he observes that utilities (XLU) and related sectors are playing "catch-up" following the AI-driven tech boom. Notably, sectors like industrials (XLI), financials (XLF), and materials (XLB) are outperforming as cyclical parts of the market fare "relatively well." Gordon characterizes this as a broadening of the market rather than a clear-cut leadership change. Ports along the East and Gulf Coasts are bracing for a strike at midnight, as the International Longshoremen's Union is demanding higher pay and protection from automation for its port workers. Margaret Kidd, University of Houston instructional associate professor of supply chain and logistics technology, tells Yahoo Finance that some estimates project that a port strike could cost the US $5 billion per day. She notes that the last port strike was in 1977 and lasted for 45 days. Back then, trade only made up 16% of the US economy. Today, that figure is 28%; therefore, a port strike would be a "huge hit on the economy," Kidd explains. Meanwhile, the Boeing (BA) factory worker strike heads into its third week, with the union reporting talks with the company have broken off. Wall Street analysts have lowered their targets for Boeing stocks, citing costs associated with the strike. This post was written by Melanie Riehl