March 5, 2025

Markets:

U.S. stock futures wavered early Wednesday, as the latest jobs data exacerbated concerns about the economy and appeared to pull attention away from hopes of a compromise on President Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs.

Stock futures took a leg up overnight after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he expected an announcement on an agreement with Canada and Mexico. Lutnick added on Wednesday morning that Trump was considering sectors of the economy such to give relief to on the taxes.

Trump said a “little disturbance” from his levies on the two countries, along with China, was OK during a Tuesday night address to Congress. Those updates have boosted stocks like automakers in Wednesday’s premarket that were hard hit due to concerns about rising costs for their materials.

But those gains largely evaporated on Wednesday morning after the ADP’s private payroll report showed far less job growth in February than predicted by economists polled by Dow Jones. That release added to a growing stack of data points that have raised alarm that the U.S. economy is slowing down.

Trump’s tariffs have rocked markets this week as investors scrambled to account for what the taxes would mean for businesses. The tech-heavy Nasdaq on Tuesday came within striking distance of correction territory, a term that refers to an index falling 10% from a recent peak. With Tuesday’s declines, the S&P 500 had officially wiped out its gains since it closed on Election Day in November.

Portfolio:

We enter the new session holding one setup in CONL.  Wild session yesterday and bounced perfectly again off key lines before the machines sold it off a bit into the close.  If you're trying to put some technical reasoning on the last 30 minutes of market action this afternoon here are some good points.  Sometimes it isn't just the "market" or the popular "headline" of the day.  Now, one piece of news and data that is noteworthy was that Insiders are buying this market pullback. The past two days saw more insider purchases since the December dip.  That's a very strong sign.  

Today, watching price and the levels we stated yesterday.  Yesterday price action traded almost to the letter of what we spoke about yesterday morning and how we would look for buys to rush in after lunch time.  The turn did begin then.  Today, watching key levels again and how we build/hold/or where we sell.  We are in no rush and feel the trend is about to emerge where we can unload.  Be ready.