JOLTs job openings, FOMC minutes, Tesla shares: 3 things to watch

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- Stocks opened the new year on a down note as pressure on tech stocks continued from 2022.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is heading toward losing its status as the last remaining stock with a $2 trillion market value, falling on Tuesday on reports it cut product orders of its gadgets. That was helping to pull down the tech-heavy Nasdaq during the first day of trading for 2023, with the index starting things off down nearly 1% in late afternoon trading.

As Congress returns to turmoil in the Republican leadership, investors were looking forward to Wednesday's release of the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes from December. The market is betting that the central bank will raise rates again this year, though at a slower pace. The meeting minutes could help shed light on what policymakers are thinking heading into the first meeting of the year in February.

This week also features data on jobs, manufacturing and mortgage rates. The Fed has been closely scrutinizing the labor market as it tries to walk a tightrope between taming inflation without tipping the economy into a recession. Still, many on Wall Street expect a recession is coming at some point this year.

Next week will bring the latest readings on inflation in the form of the consumer price index, which is expected to show prices continued to cool in December compared to the same month a year earlier.

Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:

1. Job openings

The JOLTs report on job openings for November is expected to show 10 million openings, according to analysts, which would be a downtick from the prior month. The data are due out at 10:00 ET (13:00 GMT).

2. Meeting minutes

The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting from December are due out at 14:00 ET, and investors will comb through the report for any hints on what policymakers are thinking on the direction of interest rates. The current market sentiment is expecting a quarter-percentage point increase in the benchmark rate at the Fed's next meeting, which would be a slower pace than earlier rate increases.

3. Tesla stock

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) disappointed investors will lower than expected delivery numbers for the most recent quarter and the full year 2022, though it had tempered expectations for the full year after production slowdowns because of Covid-related shutdowns in China. But investors didn't like it at all, sending the shares down another 12% on Tuesday after shedding 65% for 2022. The stock will likely be a focus on Wednesday to see whether investors decide to buy the dip.