The September jobs report will take center stage at De Investing.com

Investing.com — (DJIA) climbed to a new record high on Friday as traders looked at new data suggesting continued progress in reducing inflation. Wall Street also posted its third consecutive week of gains.

The 30-share Dow rose 137.89 points, or 0.33%, to close at 42,313.00, hitting both a session and all-time high. Meanwhile, it eased 0.13% to 5,738.17 and fell 0.39% to finish at 18,119.59, with a 2% drop in Nvidia (NASDAQ: ) dragging down the index technology focused.

All three major indexes extended their weekly winning streak, with the S&P 500 and Dow adding about 0.6 percent for the week, while the Nasdaq gained nearly 1 percent.

Investors were encouraged by inflation data that could give the Federal Reserve more confidence to continue cutting interest rates.

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for August, which is the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, rose 0.1 percent, in line with economists’ expectations. On an annual basis, PCE rose 2.2%, slightly below the 2.3% estimate.

Next week is full of employment data, with Friday’s September jobs report taking center stage.

After the sharp decline in job openings over the past two months, JPMorgan economists expect the August JOLTS report to show relatively stable vacancies.

For the September jobs report, they forecast an increase of 125,000 positions, slightly below August’s gain but still slightly above the three-month average.

“The unemployment rate rounded down to 4.2 percent in August, and we think it could round up to 4.3 percent in next week’s report,” economists said in a recent note.

Other important data releases this week include Tuesday’s ISM Manufacturing report, Wednesday’s ADP jobs data and Thursday’s jobless claims, among others.

Fed Chairman Powell is also scheduled to make his first public comments on Monday after the recent substantial rate cut.

Nike’s earnings report is also in focus

In addition to a slew of important economic data, investors will also be keeping an eye on other earnings reports in the coming days, particularly the one from NIKE (NYSE: ).

Analysts at Barclays expect the footwear and apparel giant to face “significant pressures” in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 amid “franchise lifecycle management” and China’s deceleration, however, expectations appear “fairly risky” , they note.

In the near-term, analysts believe Nike’s guidance for fiscal 2025 “is achievable, with a return to wholesale, potential growth in NA DTC and a Nike-branded footwear replenishment cycle entering calendar 2025.”

Other companies that will report earnings this week are Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (NYSE:), Carnival Corp. (NYSE: ) and Levi Strauss (NYSE: ), among others.

What analysts are saying about US stocks

Bank of America: “There have been plenty of tailwinds for stocks in recent weeks: Fed, China and growing economic surprises. NFP and ISM Manufacturing PMI (both released this week) were the two weakest major data in the past 2m. Therefore, we believe that a slight weakness can be overlooked by investors and only sizable rates rekindle recession fears. On the other hand, strong prints can further increase confidence in a soft landing.”

Goldman Sachs: “The premium of the aggregate Return on Equity (ROE) index relative to the median stock increased to 390bp, the largest gap since 1980. In addition, the gap between the stocks with the highest and lowest ROE in the market widened considerably compared to a decade ago. , most likely due to the use of financial leverage. A widening profitability gap may help in part to explain why investors today pay a premium for “quality” factors. But we expect these premiums to decline as the macro environment remains solid.”

Wedbush: “We believe the stage is set for tech stocks to move 10%+ by the end of the year and another 20% in 2025 as this tech market is just entering its next stage driven by the AI ​​Revolution. In our view, as the Fed and Powell begin their aggressive rate-cutting cycle, the macro soft landing remains the way, and AI tech spending remains a generational spending cycle that is just beginning to reach the shores of the tech sector.”

Morgan Stanley: “Over the next 3-6 months, the performance of stocks, both at the index and sector/factor level, will be driven more by labor data than anything else. The next round of employment data arrives later this week. I think we would need a positive surprise to drive a sustainable cyclical turnaround in the US.”