- On the eve of the all-important US jobs report, the stock market found little encouragement to sustain any rebound attempt, with major benchmarks finishing solidly lower on Thursday.
- Traders had to digest remarks from a slew of Federal Reserve speakers who sounded unequivocally committed to crushing inflation with rate hikes, in addition to the usual anxiety that precedes those numbers. The hawkish rhetoric contributed to the S&P 500's second straight day of losses, while the dollar and treasury yields rose. Oil has surpassed $88 per barrel.
- According to Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, the central bank is quite a ways away from ending its tightening campaign. His Chicago counterpart, Charles Evans, predicted that the benchmark rate would rise to 4.5% to 4.75% by next spring, up from the current 3% to 3.25% range. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Messer stated that the United States is experiencing unacceptably high inflation.
