U.S. Stocks Set To Open Higher Amid Election Uncertainty

Both Trump And Biden Have Decent Chances To Win The Election

S&P 500 futures are up by more than 1.5% in premarket trading despite the uncertainty regarding the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

It is already obvious that the current U.S. President Donald Trump performed much better than most analysts predicted. In addition, Republicans were successful in defending their majority in the Senate.

Tech stocks are set for a major upside move this morning as risks of increased regulatory scrutiny after a full victory by Democrats are eliminated. Shares of Apple, Microsoft and Facebook are gaining about 4% in premarket trading while Alphabet is up by about 2.5%.

Interestingly, the market completely ignores the risk of a contested election which is a possible scenario given the intense competition between Trump and Biden. Anyway, traders should be prepared for a very volatile trading session.

Job Growth Slows Amid Surging Coronavirus

The U.S. has just released ADP Employment Change report for October. The report indicated that private businesses hired 365,000 workers in October while analysts expected that they would add 650,000 jobs. Back in September, private businesses added 753,000 jobs (revised from 749,000).

Most likely, the continued problems on the coronavirus front hurt job growth, although it should be noted that the general trend is still positive.

The market will have more information on this topic on Thursday, when the U.S. will provide the latest Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Jobless Claims reports. Initial Jobless Claims are expected to decline to 732,000 while Continuing Jobless Claims are projected to drop to 7.2 million.

All Eyes On Services PMI Reports

Today, U.S. will also release the final reading of the Services PMI report for October. Analysts expect that Services PMI will increase from 54.6 to 56.

Earlier, reports from other countries showed mixed dynamics. In the UK, Services PMI declined from 56.1 in September to 51.4 in October compared to analyst consensus of 52.3. In Euro Area, Services PMI declined from 48 to 46.9 compared to analyst consensus of 46.2.

While the Services PMI report may not have a big impact on the market today as traders are focused on the U.S. presidential election, the report is still important as it will show whether the services segment has already faced problems amid surging coronavirus.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.