The markets are down this morning, with the NASDAQ: the Dow and the S&P 500 all in the red. This follows lower than expected job numbers and a mixed report on the economy from the Federal Reserve. Yesterday, data on jobs came out and it showed that in the month of August, the private sector added about 428,000 jobs.
While this is a high number, it is still much lower than what the markets were expecting. The markets were expecting the private sector to add at least 1 million jobs in August. While announcing the data, ADP Research Institute Vice President Ahu Yildirmaz stated that the jobs that the private sector posted in August point to a slow recovery in the labour markets.
He added that the slow job creation cut across all sectors of the economy. To add to that, the Federal Reserve released its Biege Book report showing that labor markets showed mixed data across all its 12 districts.
The book is usually closely watched by investors as a guide on the potential standing of the economy and will be a basis for the Fed policy meeting scheduled for September 15th to 16th.
Data on the standing of the economy points to the need for an economic bailout. Unfortunately, the impasse between democrats and republicans on this issue could see the possibility of such a bailout drag out for longer, with the effect being a dampened climate in the equity markets.
Despite the current negative outlook, there are stocks that are outperforming the markets this morning. Some of the pre-market top performers are as below.
Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc [NASDAQ: SNSS]
This is a top performer this morning and is up by over 800%. This follows the company’s announcement of a 1 to 10 reverse stock split that took effect yesterday after markets close. The stock split is aimed at allowing the company to maintain the requirement of $1 per share by the NASDAQ.
Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp [NYSE: KCAC]
Kensington Capital Acquisition is another top performer this morning and is up by over 50%. This follows the company’s announcement that the company was merging with QuantumScape, an electric battery maker that is backed by Volkswagen. The move has excited the markets due to the fast-growing nature of the EV battery market.
RiceBran Technologies [NASDAQ:RIBT]
RiceBran is another top performer this afternoon and is up by over 25%. This is largely a price action driven move. If it holds on to these gains when markets open, then increased buyer momentum could see it record more gains in the day.
