NEWS
Jobs Jump Can’t Stem Weekly Loss

U.S. stocks closed with a rare weekly loss as concerns over the path of interest rates and commodity prices overtook other news. Meanwhile, the market’s focus will return to individual companies as banks kick off a new earnings season next Friday. Let’s see what else you missed. 👀

Today's issue covers the Goldilocks job scenario, Tesla shares tossing and turning, and a biotech ETF retesting its breakout. 📰

P.S. Want the best charts and trade ideas delivered straight to your inbox? Starting next Monday, we’re doing just that with our new “Chart Art” newsletter. See what to expect and subscribe for a free gift toward the end of today’s newsletter. 🎁

Here's today's heat map:

11 of 11 sectors closed green. Industrials (+1.39%) led, & staples (+0.16%) lagged. 💚

ShockWave Medical shares jumped on news that Johnson & Johnson will purchase the medical devices maker for $13.10 billion, or roughly $335 per share in cash. The purchase will further extend J&J’s position in cardiovascular intervention and accelerate its move into higher-growth markets. 🤝

Trump Media and Technology Group tumbled to fresh post-merger lows as traders and investors debated the company’s underlying fundamentals. 🔻

Gold reached new all-time highs, notching its third straight weekly gain, as market participants continued to focus on the commodity space. 🥇

Semiconductor stocks remained in focus after Samsung said it expects its first-quarter profit to rise 931% amid the memory chip price rebound. This further signals that the market for consumer device chips has likely troughed. 📊

Other active symbols: $CADL (+3.75%), $ATOS (-10.95%), $OCGN (+21.19%), $HUBC (+48.08%), $GCTS (+42.41%), $DXYZ (+76.51%), & $MDIA (+177.14%). 🔥

Here are the closing prices: 

ECONOMY
The Goldilocks Job Scenario Continues

The U.S. labor market continued its hot streak today, with nonfarm payrolls rising 303,000 in March vs. estimates of 200,000. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.80% as the labor force market participation rate hit 62.70%. 👨‍💼

Most growth came from the usual services sectors: healthcare, government, leisure and hospitality, etc.. Also, February’s numbers were revised lower by just 5,000, while January’s were revised up by 27,000.

The more important part for the Fed was learning that wages rose just 0.30% MoM and 4.10% YoY, showing a continued deceleration. 🔺

This take from Cullen Roche pretty much sums up why this strong report was good news for the market and economy. 👇

As he noted in his commentary, wage growth is the true driver of inflation, not just the number of jobs available or the number of people working. Right now, the trend in its YoY change continues downward.

This is the “Goldilocks” situation the Fed has been trying to achieve. It wants wages to come down without having to raise unemployment too much or push the economy into a recession. 👍

So, while the overall labor market strength means the Fed likely won’t cut until the back half of the year, the most closely watched part of the labor report continues to head in the right direction.

Lastly, wages are still growing more than inflation, which remains a positive, even if it doesn’t feel like it when we all make purchases on a daily basis. 😐

We’ll have to see if the market can shake off its recent weakness or if this week’s pullback is truly the start of something larger. 🤷

COMPANY NEWS
Tesla Shares Violently Toss And Turn

If you’re involved in Tesla stock in any capacity, you know to expect lots of market-moving headlines and Elon Musk’s actions cutting both ways. And that became more evident today as Musk argued against “fake news” on X.

The saga began with Reuters publishing the article below that essentially said Tesla had scrapped its low-cost car plans. The news sent Tesla shares sharply lower and investors into a fiery debate. 🪫

However, just a short time after, Elon Musk took to X to respond to the accounts circulating the news, saying, “Reuters is lying (again).” 🙃

That caused Tesla shares to jump sharply, but not enough to recover its losses. Still, Elon went on and replied to many comments on the platform in real time.

However, the real news came after the bell, when Musk announced that Tesla would unveil its long-awaited robotaxi on August 8th. That caused shares to jump even further, recovering most of the day’s losses.

Now, whether or not Tesla is able to deliver on this timeline remains to be seen. Investors and traders are increasingly frustrated with the company’s inability to provide clear guidance, instead opting for ad-hoc news releases and commentary via Musk’s X account. 😵

We’ll have to wait and see how this develops. But for now, Stocktwits sentiment remains volatile, currently sitting in “extremely bearish” territory. 🐻

STOCKTWITS “CHART ART”
Biotech ETF Retests Its Breakout Again 💉

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Bullets From The Day

📝 More details were revealed about Paramount Global’s potential deal. Skydance Media, RedBird Capital, and KKR want to take a significant minority or slight majority stake in a publicly traded Paramount Global. Skydance CEO David Ellison and RedBird’s Jeff Shell (former CEO of NBC Universal) would both have leadership roles in the new company. Still, many questions remain, and Paramount shareholders need to decide if this offer, Apollo Global’s, or neither is the best path forward. CNBC has more.

🍟 McDonald’s will buy all 225 restaurants from its Israel franchise. Israel’s McDonald’s franchises have been owned by a local company, Alonyal Ltd., for more than 30 years. However, consumers in Arab and Muslim-majority countries are boycotting the brand over their perceived support for Israel, contributing to its first revenue miss in nearly four years in February. As a result of the negative business impact, McDonald’s has agreed to purchase all of the Israeli franchises back from Alonyal. More from CNBC.

🪧 UAW reaches a major milestone as its reach expands to a second automaker. The United Auto Workers union’s effort to organize the American plants of foreign automakers just made major progress after it filed for a representation election at a Mercedes plant in Alabama. It’s attempted votes at other plants in the past, but they’re generally spread out over time. However, with last year’s big wins against the “Big 3” automakers still fresh on everyone’s minds, it’s taking on multiple factories and automakers at once in an attempt to keep the momentum going. CNN Business has more.

Links That Don’t Suck

🤑 Get free access to MarketSurge from April 1-7! Try it free all week, no credit card required*

🏘️ Appeals court reopens DOJ antitrust probe of Realtors

🤖 AI will shrink workforces within five years, say company execs

❌ 99 Cents Only Stores to close all 371 spots in 'extremely difficult decision,' CEO says

😵‍💫 Meta to adjust AI policies on content after board said they were "incoherent and confusing"

🎫 Powerball hits $1.3 billion. Most people still buy tickets in person, but more lottery apps emerge

*3rd Party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Stocktwits. See disclosure here.

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