5 Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Good morning. Treasuries and stocks fall again after one of the worst starts to the year in history, with the Federal Reserve minutes later [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Good morning. Treasuries and stocks fall again after one of the worst starts to the year in history, with the Federal Reserve minutes later and jobs data at the end of the week. Here’s what’s moving markets. — [Sam Unsted]( Tandem fall US Treasuries [are lower once again]( and stocks are mostly flat after investors pulled back some of December’s blockbuster rally in the first trading day of the year. Tuesday’s in-tandem fall for stocks and bonds marked among the [worst concerted drops]( for the pair ever.  King Dollar The dollar headed in the opposite direction, however, notching up its[best single-day gain since March]( as traders pared bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts for the coming year. [Bitcoin rose too](, albeit for other reasons. Meanwhile, gold and oil came under pressure from a stronger dollar. Focus will turn to the release of the Federal Reserve minutes later, ahead of which the greenback is holding gains. Apple’s slide Within individual stocks, Apple shares suffered their [biggest drop since September](, the biggest contributor to the Nasdaq 100’s worst one-day fall since October. Note, that is after the tech-heavy index rose 54% last year. Apple itself picked up a new bear in the form of Barclays, which warned on softer iPhone demand. JPMorgan Chase, however, continued its strong run following a 2023 when its shares outperformed its banking industry peers, hitting [a fresh record]( for the first time in two years. Dovish narrative The Fed minutes, due at 2 p.m. New York time, are expected to broadly back the dovish narrative that took hold at the end of 2023. That meeting saw officials signal an end to the rate-hiking cycle, fueling bets on the first rate cut. The minutes may include some pushback on those expectations, though nothing too strong is anticipated. Data flurry Ahead of the minutes today, investors will contend with the ISM manufacturing reading and JOLTS job data, with the latter setting the stage for the payrolls report on Friday. That’s expected to show a labor market in the US which is gradually weakening but staying resilient. The ISM numbers, however, could matter more for the overall picture than the Fed minutes, as Mark Cudmore [explored on Bloomberg TV]( earlier. What We’ve Been Reading This is what’s caught our eye over the past 24 hours. - Wall Street’s tech selloff on [the Daybreak podcast](. - Donald Trump [sues]( in Maine. - Harvard president [Claudine Gay resigns](. - [Long hours]( don’t equal more productivity. - The tough task of [saving the Panama Canal](. - The [first big IPO of 2024]( for the US has filed. - Building [tech hubs]( in America’s heartland. And finally, here's what Joe’s interested in this morning It's JOLTS day. At 10 a.m. ET, the data is expected to show 8.82 million job openings. A year ago, this would have been a really big deal, as the Fed was highly focused on job openings as a measure of labor market tightness. Of course, over 2023, inflation eased considerably, and perspectives have changed. That being said total openings are still well above pre-COVID measures. On the one hand, you can look at this chart and say "look, things eased!" And generally speaking, companies are reporting a much easier time hiring than they were a year ago. But again, if you take openings at face value, the absolute level of openings is still extremely high. However that hasn't been an impediment to the disinflation that we've seen. On the other hand, there is a sense in which this chart looks like the type of bullwhip we've seen elsewhere in the economy. When the pandemic first struck, companies felt they had too many workers. The economy quickly rebounded, and the dominant fear among firms was being short labor. So then companies scrambled to catch up, aiming to order up as many workers as they could. Since the peak, we've been in a normalization phase of firms finding the right level of employees. So there are really two ways to view this chart. One is that the economy got crazy hot, and now it's cooling off. The other way is simply that it's evidence of massive disruption, and companies scrambling to address the disruption which is now going away, as the initial pandemic shock fades further back into history. Follow Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on X [@TheStalwart]( Like Bloomberg's Five Things? [Subscribe for unlimited access]( to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Tell us what you want to see in the Five Things newsletter! Please [take our quick survey here.]( [Bloomberg Markets Wrap: The latest on what's moving global markets. Tap to read.]( Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Five Things to Start Your Day: Americas Edition newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](