U.S. stocks kicked off the fourth quarter with strong back-to-back gains on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 jumping more than 5.7% off its 2022 low, helping investors claw back some of its crushing 9.3% loss in September.
Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist at Ally, still thinks the strong rally to start the quarter doesn’t mean investors are out of the woods. Job openings in the U.S. fell sharply in August to a 13-month low of 10.1 million, the labor department said on Tuesday, a sign the red-hot labor market might be cooling off a bit as high inflation and rapidly rising interest rates start to rattle the economy. On Monday, the Institute for Supply Management said its closely watched manufacturing index fell to a 28-month low of 50.9% in September, its lowest level in more than two years.
“People are kind of hanging their hat on that , hoping that means the Friday report from September is going to show a slowdown in hiring, even though hiring could still be in the positive,” Bell said.