By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com -- Stocks cooled on Wednesday and were down heading into the last half-hour of trading as investors fretted about the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus, which has the potential to blunt the economic recovery.
Those concerns are being fanned further by uncertainty about when and how much the Federal Reserve will begin buying fewer bonds each month as it takes its foot off the pedal of economic stimulus.
Everyone expects the Fed will act eventually, but people are still arguing about whether that time will be this year or next. In its periodic Beige Book -- a compilation of reports on the economy from its district banks -- the Fed said the economy "downshifted slightly" in August.
A surge of the coronavirus hit dining, travel and tourism, the Fed said Wednesday. Overall, the economy reflects the comeback from the pandemic, and with it rising prices and labor shortages.
In individual stocks, Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN) fell after the Securities and Exchange Commission threatened to sue the crypto exchange if it goes ahead with plans to launch a crypto lending product. PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) fell, too, after saying it would acquire Japan’s Paidy, a “buy now, pay later” firm.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Has fun returned?
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment (NASDAQ:PLAY), which is part restaurant, part bar, and part arcade for adults and kids, is expected to report an adjusted profit per share of 56 cents on revenue of $356.6 million, according to analysts tracked by Investing.com. The company could be seen as a proxy for how the entertainment industry is coming back from the pandemic, and investors will be listening for any comments on the outlook for the rest of the year.
2. Initial jobless claims
Last week, we got a tepid report on August jobs from the government. On Thursday, the government releases data on the number of new jobless claims made in the previous week. The number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time in the U.S. is predicted to come in around 335,000 for the week ending June 5 from 340,000 for the week before. The report comes out at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT).
3. Continuing jobless claims
Even more interesting, perhaps, are the number of people who continued to file for unemployment, especially now that the extra pandemic assistance has expired. Continuing jobless claims in the U.S., a measure of people receiving unemployment benefits for a while, are expected to fall to 2.744 million in the week ending September 4, from 2.748 million the week before. That report also comes out at 8:30 AM ET.