Markets wobble after an unusually volatile week of trading

Dow finished up 51, advancers barely ahead of decliners & NAZ added 76.  The MLP index dropped 4+ to the 74s & the REIT index added 1+ to 410.  Junk bond funds hardly budged & Treasuries continued to be purchased which reduced yields.  Oil was higher in the 76s & gold added 4 to 2468 (more on both below).

Dow Jones Industrials 

Automaker Stellantis (STLA) plans to indefinitely lay off up to 2450 US factory workers later this year as it discontinues production of an older version of its Ram 1500 pickup truck in Michigan.  The truck has been largely used as a low-cost pickup to sell to entry-level buyers & fleet customers since the automaker introduced a new generation of the Ram 1500 in 2018.  It is produced alongside the Jeep Wagoneer & Grand Wagoneer at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant. The current Ram 1500, which was recently updated for the 2025 model year, is produced at a nearby plant.  Operations at that facility will continue as planned.  “With the introduction of the new Ram 1500, production of the Ram 1500 Classic at the Warren [Michigan] Truck Assembly Plant will come to an end later this year,” the company said.  The discontinuation of the Ram 1500 “Classic” vehicle is not unexpected, but the company has not announced a vehicle to replace the truck.  That's concerning for local govs, workers & the United Auto Workers union, which represents the plant.  The layoffs are expected to start as soon as Oct.  The final number of indefinite layoffs at the Warren plant, which currently employs about 3700 hourly workers, may be lower than the announced numbers.  Some employees may be given other jobs or positions at other plants. The layoffs are the latest for STLA, which has cut production at several plants amid sales issues & cost-cutting measures.  The stock fell 22¢.

Stellantis laying off 2,450 plant workers due to discontinuation of Ram ‘Classic’ pickup truck

Cisco Systems (CSCO), a Dow stock, plans to eliminate thousands more jobs in a 2nd round of layoffs this year as the networking equipment maker shifts its focus to faster-growing businesses such as cybersecurity & artificial intelligence.  The news follows CSCO's move to cut approximately 4000 jobs in Feb after a slowdown in corp tech spending wiped out its sales growth.  The company had nearly 85K workers at the end of fiscal 2023, which ran thru Jul of that year.  Though AI spending has helped fuel growth in some areas, traditional information technology giants haven’t benefited as much.  Intel (INTL), a Dow stock, announced plans last week to slash 15K jobs as it contends with sluggish sales. Dell Technologies (DELL) is also cutting positions as part of a reorganization of its sales teams.  CSCO joins other tech companies in paring jobs as they cope with uneven demand. The latest job cuts could be announced as early as Wed when the company reports 4th-qtr results.  3 months ago, an upbeat CSCO forecast sparked hope that IT customers had picked up spending again.  But the broader tech industry has been dogged by more recent concerns about the economy & the idea that AI spending might not have a near-term payoff.  Over the longer term, CEO Chuck Robbins has been trying to transform CSCO into a provider of networking services & software, rather than a company focused on 1-time sales of hardware. It also looks to capitalize more on the AI boom that has fueled sales for companies like Nvidia (NVDA).  The stock fell 36¢.

Exclusive-Cisco to lay off thousands more in second job cut this year, sources say

JPMorgan (JPM) a Dow stock, has rolled out a generative artificial intelligence assistant to tens of thousands of its employees in recent weeks, the initial phase of a broader plan to inject the technology throughout the sprawling financial giant.  The program, called LLM Suite, is already available to more than 60K employees, helping them with tasks like writing emails & reports.  The software is expected to eventually be as ubiquitous within the bank as the videoconferencing program Zoom.  Rather than developing its own AI models, JPM designed LLM Suite to be a portal that allows users to tap external large language models, the complex programs underpinning generative AI tools, & launched it with ChatGPT maker OpenAI's LLM.  “Ultimately, we’d like to be able to move pretty fluidly across models depending on the use cases,” Teresa Heitsenrether, JPM's chief data & analytics officer, said.  “The plan is not to be beholden to any one model provider.”  The move by JPM, the largest US bank by assets, shows how quickly generative AI has swept through American corps since the arrival of ChatGPT in late 2022.  The technology, hailed by some as the “Cognitive Revolution” in which tasks formerly done by knowledge workers will be automated, could be as important as the advent of electricity, the printing press and the internet, CEO Jamie Dimon said in Apr.  It will likely “augment virtually every job” at the bank, Dimon said.  JPM had about 313K employees as of Jun.  The stock rose 1.76.

JPMorgan is giving employees an AI assistant powered by ChatGPT maker

Gold prices eased as the latest jobs data eased concerns on US recession, with prices set for a weekly decline after a global sell-off earlier in the week led to big losses in bullion, while traders awaited further clues on US rate cuts.  Spot gold was down 0.1% to $2424 per ounce, & US. gold futures was unchanged at $2463.  Bullion was on track for its biggest weekly decline since Jun 7.  Prices fell as much as 3% on Mon after investors liquidated positions in tandem with a broader equities sell-off.  Treasury yields rose after data yesterday showed US jobless claims fell more than expected last week, suggesting fears the labor market is unraveling were overblown.  The $ hovered close to a 1-week high, making bullion more expensive.  Markets see a 100% chance of a US cut rate in Sep, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.  Investor focus will shift to the US consumer price index (CPI)due next week for further insights into the Fed's policy path.

Gold Heads for Weekly Drop as US Recession Fears Calm Down

Oil prices edged higher, on course for the first positive week in 5 as solid economic data in both the US & China eased global demand concerns.  Brent oil futures rose 0.6% to $76.65 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 0.5% to $79.53 a barrel.  Both benchmarks are on track to gain more than 3% on a weekly basis, the first positive week in 5.  Better-than-expected US jobless claims data yesterday boosted sentiment, raising hope the world's largest economy could avoid a recession.  Data today showed that Chinese consumer price index inflation grew more than expected in Jul, while a decline in producer price index inflation was slightly less than expected.  The data highlighted some improving trends in the world's biggest oil importer, especially after Beijing enacted a slew of interest rate cuts through Jul.

Oil Prices Settle Higher To Snap Four-Week Losing Streak

The Dow began today in the red, but with a modest boost finished in the the black & up 240 for the week.  After the wild week of trading, some traders started their weekend holiday early.  Next week there may be excitement from the popular 2 major price indices for consumer & producer prices.  Try to have a good & restful weekend.   😀