Stocks are pulling back this morning as investors brace for a series of key economic events.
S&P 500 futures declined about 0.3 percent and are attempting to hold support at their mid-February highs. Europe is little-changed, and Asia was mostly lower overnight.
ADP's private-sector payrolls report, due at 8:15 a.m. ET, is expected to show that 220,000 jobs were added last month. It's followed by the Institute for Supply Management's service-sector index at 10 a.m. The European Central Bank's meeting, likely the week's most important item, is scheduled for tomorrow. Non-farm payrolls conclude the activity Friday morning.
optionMONSTER's proprietary researchLAB shows sentiment shifting toward expectations of a stronger economy. Consumer discretionaries like retailers, media, hoteliers and cruise-ships have led the advance. Nasdaq stocks, especially networking companies and e-commerce names, have also outperformed. Safety plays like utilities and health care have lagged.
It's also noteworthy that transportation stocks have refused to follow the other indexes to new highs. That could make some analysts cautious about the strength of the recent advance.
In company-specific news today, TiVo rose almost 7 percent after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit. (See this story for recent call buying in the digital-media stock.) Strong results also drove Smith & Wesson and Career Education higher by more than 10 percent yesterday afternoon but neither has traded yet this morning.
Bob Evans cratered 21 percent after abandoning plans to spin off its foods unit. Trina Solar is also inching higher after beating revenue targets.
Commodities are little-changed. The euro is the biggest mover in foreign-exchange markets, declining across the board as investors brace for tomorrow's ECB meeting.
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