Stocks Set for Early Rebound Wednesday
After the worst selloff of the year on Wall Street Tuesday, with the Dow Industrials tumbling 203 points, futures are pointing higher early Wednesday.
Investors are turning their attention to the strength of the U.S. job market. ADP said a net 216,000 jobs were created in February, slightly better than expected. The CEO of ADP said “virtually every sector of the economy added jobs.”
Meanwhile, the big government jobs report for February will be released Friday and the expectation is that 204,000 jobs will have been created, after 243,000 were added in January.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is set to make a major product announcement from San Francisco later this afternoon. Regardless of what the unveiling is – iPad HD, iPad 3, Apple TV – the question is: will consumers want to buy it? While they certainly want to buy Apple products -- and 63% of all tablets shipped are iPads -- the most common one is the cheapest WiFi version. It remains to be seen if consumers will fork over extra cash for faster speeds.
Nonetheless, here’s a stat that might make you scratch your head. Back in 2002, the average home cost about $230,000. If the prospective homeowner used that money to buy shares of Apple, then at $12 a pop, that investment now would be worth about $10 million. The house? $280,000.