{"id":24626,"date":"2025-03-03T09:49:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T15:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eoption.com\/mid-morning-look-march-03-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-03-03T09:49:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T15:49:41","slug":"mid-morning-look-march-03-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eoption.com\/mid-morning-look-march-03-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Mid-Morning Look: March 03, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mid-Morning Look<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Monday, March 03, 2025<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Index<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Up\/Down<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Last<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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DJ Industrials<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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75.73<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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0.18%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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43,921<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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S&P 500<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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3.03<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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0.04%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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5,956<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Nasdaq<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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-56.23<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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0.30%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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18,791<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Russell 2000<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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-2.96<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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0.14%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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2,160<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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U.S. stocks opened sharply higher to start the trading day, week and new month, adding to the late day surge on Friday where major averages jumped in the final 30 minutes of trading to pare weekly losses…but stocks have pulled back since as several stock market concerns remain. One stock market fear remains tariffs, as Commerce Secretary Lutnick said Mexico\/Canada have done a reasonable job on the border but notes there will be tariffs on Mexico\/Canada on Tuesday but says President Trump will determine at what levels; China tariffs are set until they end fentanyl trafficking into the US (and China promising retaliatory tariffs). Meanwhile, Ukraine and USA<\/span> tensions increase after Zelinsky left the White House without a US<\/span> deal last week and spoke to EU<\/span> leaders this weekend. On the data front, the Prices Paid component of the Feb ISM<\/span> Manufacturing report came in at the highest level since June 2022 (per CNBC<\/span>), raising further inflation fears as the reading jumped to 62.4 from 54.9 in January. Meanwhile new orders for February posted the biggest drop in new order since March 2022, falling to 48.6 from 55.1 in January adding to slowing growth concerns, Growth fears popped up again last Friday after Atlanta’s Fed Model forecast for Q1 GDP was revised to -1.5% (from prior +2.3%). Despite the rising inflation data\/the slowing growth fears appear to be carrying more weight early as the US dollar and Treasury yields tumble, possibly on prospects the Fed may look to rate cuts to thwart economic slowing. <\/p>\n

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After Bitcoin dropped by 25% recently from $106K on 1\/31 to $79K on Friday, prices jumped on Sunday more than 10% after President Donald Trump said that his recent executive order on digital assets directed his team to create “a Crypto Strategic Reserve” that will hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other Cryptocurrencies such as XRP<\/span>, Dogecoin, Solana and Cardano. Bitcoin had has fallen 16% in the past week, its biggest weekly drop since the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange in November 2022. However, as stock markets slid on the open, Bitcoin prices rolled as well, paring gains to under $90,000. Lots of market uncertainty keeping stock markets choppy and volatile, including tariffs, growth, geo-political, policy, weaker GDP revision, retail sales, jobs and lower confidence. Recall the recent AAII<\/span> survey dropped from 29.2% last week to 19.4% for bullish sentiment, the lowest reading since March 2023 (regional bank crisis) while the bearish sentiment exploded from 40.5% last week to over 60% now. April gold rose 1.7% to $2,897 an ounce after falling -3.5% last week following eight weeks of gains. <\/p>\n

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Economic Data<\/p>\n