According to the Labor Department, new jobless benefit claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 439,000, marking the fourth drop in the last five weeks. Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS Financial Services shared his market outlook.
“We’re close enough, but you want to get below 400,000 and then you can see things kicking in,” Cashin said of the jobless claims figures.
Cashin also said the employment report from the government on Friday is likely to rock the markets.
“A year or two ago, we used to refer to the non-farm payrolls as the random number generator,” he said. “But everybody’s concentrating on it now.”
The bulls continue to have the lead as long as the S&P 500 stays above 1,150, he said.
“You’re seeing a tailwind from a weaker dollar and you see that reflected in gold and oil,” he said. “The first three days of the new month, and particularly a new quarter, tend to have a bias to the upside.”
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Top Dow Gainers (as of this writing):
Alcoa
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Disclosures:
No immediate information was available for Cashin or his firm.
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