Dow Jones Futures Fall: Jobs Report Looms, Tesla Cuts U.S. EV Prices; U.S. Stock Market Closed

Dow Jones futures, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Futures all fell early on Friday. Tesla (TSLA), which has cut prices for all of its electric cars in the United States, is awaiting the March jobs report. The U.S. market is closed today.

Major indexes performed well during a holiday-shortened week. Midweek pullbacks looked healthy and normal. Many sectors and top stocks, such as Tesla stock, fell hard.

Alphabet (GOOGL), the search engine giant, made a big splash on Thursday. Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company (BABA), made a bold entry.

Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) are both on the IBD long-term leaders list.

The embedded video in this article discusses the weekly market activity and analyzes Google, BABA stocks and Intuitive Surgical.

Jobs Report

The economists predict that nonfarm payrolls will rise by 238,000. This is down from the 311,000 in February, but still a solid increase. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 3.6%. The hourly earnings increased by 0.3% in comparison to February, while the annual increase slowed down to 4.3%.

Initial claims for unemployment for the week ending April 1 were 228,000, well above expectations of 201,000. The previous week's claims were revised upwards by 48,000, to 246,000. This was due to large seasonal adjustments.

The number of job openings fell in February but remained relatively high. ADP estimates that private payroll growth in March was much slower than expected at 145,000.

The March ISM manufacturing indicator showed a further contraction, while the ISM service index indicated a rapid slowdown in growth.

Dow Jones Futures Today

S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures both edged down.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note increased by 2 basis points, to 3.3%.

The March jobs report will have a significant impact on Dow Jones futures, as well as Treasury yields. Stock futures, however, cease trading at 9:15 am. ET.

The U.S. Stock Markets are closed on Good Friday.

Hong Kong and European Markets are closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Keep in mind the overnight Dow Futures session.

Stock Market Rally

Stock market rallies had a mixed performance this week. In weekly stock market trades, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.6%. S&P 500 index fell 0.1%. The Nasdaq dropped 1.1%, and the Russell 2000 fell 2.5%.

U.S. crude prices soared 6.65% to $80.92 a barrel, mainly on Monday following the unexpected OPEC+ production cut. Crude futures are up 20.9% over the past three weeks.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell 22 basis points, to 3.28%. This is a seven-month low.

Growth ETFs

The Innovator IBD50 ETF (FFTY), which tracks growth ETFs fell 3.5% this week. The iShares Expanded Tech Software Sector ETF (IGV), a growth ETF, fell by 1.6%. IGV holds a large amount of Microsoft stock. VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF SMH has lost 4.1%.

ARK Innovation ETF ARKK dropped 4.4%, while ARK Genomics ETF ARKG fell 1.2%. Both rose on Thursday. Tesla stock is No. Ark Invest ETFs have the No. 1 holding in Tesla stock.

Tesla Price Cuts

Tesla cut the prices of all its EVs in the U.S. overnight. The Model S and X were reduced by $5,000 each for the third consecutive time in 2018. Model S now starts at $84,990, while Model X begins at $94,990.

Tesla also lowered the entry-level Model 3 price in the U.S. by $1,000, to $41,990. Model Y prices were cut by $2,000, to $49990.

Tesla Australia cut the Model 3 and Y price again earlier in the week.

Tesla slashed its global prices in the first quarter of this year, and in March it offered additional discounts to Europeans and Americans on its S- and X-model vehicles. This, combined with the new U.S. electric vehicle credits, helped to push first-quarter Tesla delivery records. They fell short of FactSet's expectations. Model S and X production was nearly double the amount of sales.

Analysts predicted that Tesla would continue to cut prices in order to increase demand and further reduce its margins

Tesla Stock

Investors will not have a chance until Monday to react to Tesla's latest price reduction. Tesla's stock fell 10.8% this week to 185.06 following the Q1 report. The shares fell below the 200.76 cup with handle buy point as well as the 50-day moving mean.

It is unfortunate that the base formed below 200-day line. The 200.76 purchase point is no more valid. However, TSLA is already working on a 207.89 entry, which is visible on a weekly chart. The 200-day line is still just above it.

Tesla's first-quarter earnings are due on April 19. Investors will be able to see the impact of price cuts so far on profit margins.

Google Stock

Google rose 3.8% to 108.42 on Thursday in volume above normal. According to MarketSmith, shares rallied beyond a cup with handle buy point of 106.69.

Google's CEO announced that the company would add chat AI to its Search Engine soon after Microsoft (MSFT), added ChatGPT in its Bing search and other products.

Alibaba Stock

Alibaba's stock rose 4.25% to 102.74 on Thursday, breaking a downtrend and offering an early entry. The new handle is slightly below the 50-day line, but above the 50 day line.

BABA's stock soared the week before after Alibaba announced it would be splitting into six separate units, each with its own CEO and the option to file for an IPO.

Stock Market Rally Analysis

The major stock indexes experienced a healthy and normal pullback during the week.

The Nasdaq dropped but recovered to 12,000 on Thursday. The Dow Jones rose while the S&P 500 declined.

Google's stock enjoyed a strong week, and Meta Platforms (META), meanwhile, continued to rise. Apple (AAPL), and Microsoft stocks were barely changed. They are on the edges of buy zones. Exxon Mobil, Merck and UnitedHealth all had strong weekly gains.

There were many big losers. The construction and industrial sectors fell Tuesday, while growth stocks dropped Wednesday. Many stocks suffered major losses, but others may be able to recover relatively quickly. The positive rebounds on Thursday, many of which were from important levels, are definitely encouraging.

The week was dominated by defensive growth and names, such as medicals, consumer staples, and utilities.

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