Tag - Chsi

Small-cap stocks opened lower, pulled down by profit-taking from hot money traders who caught the big rally Tuesday, a batch of soft private employment reports and reticence ahead of Washington’s latest vote on the financial bailout package. At 10:03 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 8.65, or 1.27%, at 670.94.

Although the market is starting to take more notice on the economic data front ahead of Friday’s big jobs release, the lion’s share of attention is still squarely on the surprisingly uncertain world of politics and the proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street after House Republicans voted down a bill authored by the Republican administration. The latest version of the bill — with new “extenders” included, is up for a Senate vote later today. Although nothing is certain in politics, especially in an election year, there is a sense among market watchers that some version of the rescue plan will be approved by the end of the week.

As for the economic reports already in hand this morning, stock index futures appeared to briefly extend overnight declines after the ADP Employment survey showed a decline of just 8,000 jobs last month, which was better than the forecast for a slide of 60,000. Even though the number would seem supportive, August was revised downward slightly and traders are well aware that the ADP number has not been tracking well with the Labor Department release, which is slated for Friday morning. A consensus of economists is forecasting the Labor Department to show a decline in non-farm payrolls of 100,000 and an unemployment rate of 6.1%.

In other economic news, the ISM Manufacturing Survey came out at 10:00 a.m. ET, and the headline figure was at 43.5, which was well below the projection of 49.8. The dollar gave up some of its overnight gains after the weak ISM figure, interest rates pushed higher and Fed funds futures edged above a 50% chance for a . . .