Daily Market Commentary

June 1, 2023

Bonds & Stocks
The artificial-intelligence frenzy that powered the recent market rally continued to take a breather, leaving stock traders with little encouragement to make any big bets on the eve of the all-important jobs report. Equities kicked off the month in a very tight range, with the S&P 500 stuck near its key 4,200 level. C3.ai Inc. plunged 20% as the AI software company's sales outlook did not live up to the investor enthusiasm that has seen its stock price more than triple this year.

Economy
Employment growth at US companies last month exceeded all projections, highlighting a durable labor market that continues to buttress the economy. Private payrolls increased 278,000 following a revised 291,000 gain in April, according to figures published Thursday by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for an increase of 170,000.

World
Japan will spend around 3.5 trillion yen ($25 billion) on policies meant to bolster its sliding birthrate, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Thursday, without fully explaining how he will fund the plans. "This will bring our country's spending per child on families to the level of Sweden," which is one of the highest among developed economies, Kishida said after a meeting of his children's future strategy panel. The advisory panel released details of the extra annual spending that will include expanded handouts for families with children.

The information represented herein was obtained from various sources, which we believe to be reliable. Neither the information presented nor opinions expressed constitutes an offer to buy or sell any security. And it is not intended to guide the investor on which securities to buy, or when to buy or sell.