Wednesday's Final Takeaways: AI Memory Rally, SpaceX Whispers & Jobs Improve

Welcome back to Market on Clothes. I'm Jenny Horn here in Chicago, alongside Zambados

at the New York Stock Exchange. Here's some final thoughts on today's session. Memory

exposed stocks like micron sandisk and western digital rallied back on Wednesday after several

consecutive sessions of declines. Even with its near 9% gain today, Micron has pulled back

almost 22% from its recent high. The latest selling was linked to fears that a new alphabet

AI algorithm could sharply reduce memory demand and broader macro fears that have weighed

on much of the broader AI trade. Eli Lilly was another standout in the session, shares

Rose almost 4% after the FDA approved a new oral weight loss drug, on hopes it will

strengthen the company's competitive position in the obesity market.

Fandayow marks Lilly's second FDA-approved obesity treatment with the company planning

to expand into more than 40 countries following the U.S. launch. And SpaceX has filed

confidentially for an IPO, bringing the company one step closer to delivering the biggest

ever public listing. The drafted IPO registration was submitted to the U.S. SEC and could seek

evaluation of more than $1.7 trillion. So Sam, what caught your eye during today's

trading session?

Well, I think it was the day to wrap this morning, even though it has been as Jeff

Pierce says, taking a bit of a back seat. But it does point to a good macro picture.

There are, however, a few caveats. So ADP showed private sector hiring, coming in better

than expected at 62,000, although education, healthcare and construction really drove

a lot of that growth, showing that the job market is still a bit lopsided. Then we got

the retail sales, which looked strong, increasing the most in seven months, the control group,

which economists look at very closely because it does feed into GDP picked up to, as for

where people spent their money, health stores, clothing stores, and on cars. But that was

for February, which was before the war in Iran. So on one hand, it may be a bit backwards

looking, but on the other, it does show the consumer looked okay before the conflict.

So on not so shaky ground, then there was the ISM manufacturing data, which picked up

a bit, but flushed a warning sign as well. That was the price is paid, which rose the

most since 2022. Over the last few months, that index has jumped the most in nearly a decade.

So that's obviously going to be watched very closely, but heading into tomorrow, Jenny,

what are you going to be looking out for?

Well, tomorrow we will be watching several of these key economic data points. First up

at 830 AM Eastern, initial jobless claims with markets focused on any really renewed

signs of labor market cooling or weakness, of course, with global demand. Also at 830 AM Eastern,

we'll be watching for the release of international trade and goods and services. But on that same

labor front, even though markets will not open Friday, we will get a better read on overall

employment metrics with non-farm payrolls and the overall employment rate released Friday morning.

And so Sam, what else are you watching for as far as tomorrow's session?

I think it's going to be really interesting, obviously, Jenny, to watch this reaction to

President Trump's national address tonight. And that is because this is going to be key to how

we trade into that long weekend. We have seen a lot of de-risking over the last few Fridays,

since the start of this war, given that we just have no idea what can really happen when the market

is closed. So this will set the tone heading into the Easter break. Trump has said that Iran asked

for a ceasefire, but there are still many conflicting and confusing headlines coming from all sides

of this conflict. Obviously, you've got the U.S. administration, you've got the Iranians,

you've got the Israelis as well. So investors will be looking for some clarity tonight from President

Trump. And this will be at 9 PM Eastern, so you will have Asian markets trading at that time,

which will react first. So I think that will be a first indicator as to maybe how sentiment will

look tomorrow, Jenny. Yeah, and that will do it for us, of course, for market enclose for this

Wednesday. For San Fadas, I'm Jenny Horn.