Rover's Weekly Market Brief - 01/09/2026

New Watchlists – January 2026

We created a new set of watchlists that contain many interesting investment candidates. You can read about the new watchlists in our latest blog post.

There are also a companion set of screeners associated with each of the watchlists. Any of the new watchlists or screeners can be imported into your Stock Rover account from the Stock Rover Investor’s Library.

Economy

The December ISM® Manufacturing PMI® registered 47.9%, marking a 0.3-percentage point decline from November’s reading of 48.2% and extending the sector’s contraction to a tenth consecutive month. The New Orders Index remained in contraction at 47.7%, improving 0.3 percentage point, signaling a slightly slower pace of demand decline. The Production Index held in expansion at 51%, though it eased 0.4 percentage point month over month. The Employment Index contracted for the 11th straight month, rising 0.9 percentage point to 44.9%, reflecting continued head-count reductions despite a marginally slower rate of contraction. The Prices Index registered 58.5%, indicating raw materials cost increases for the 15th consecutive month, unchanged from November. Supplier Deliveries shifted back to slower performance, increasing 1.5 percentage points to 50.8%. Inventories contracted at a faster rate, falling 3.7 percentage points to 45.2%. The New Export Orders Index (46.8%) and the Imports Index (44.6%) remained in contraction, with export demand firming slightly while import volumes pulled back more sharply month over month.

The S&P Global US Services PMI® report for December 2025 indicated that the US service sector remained in expansion territory, though the Business Activity Index slipped to 52.5 from 54.1 in November, marking the slowest growth in eight months. Demand conditions cooled as new business inflows rose at the weakest rate in 20 months, with firms citing uncertainty in client budgets, spending pressures, and instability tied to tariffs. Employment levels remained essentially flat, ending a nine-month sequence of growth, as cost concerns and a downturn in demand growth weighed on staffing decisions even while backlogs rose for a tenth straight month. Inflationary pressures intensified as input costs climbed at the sharpest rate since last May, driven by tariffs and labor expenses, leading firms to raise selling prices at the quickest pace since August to offset margin pressures. While business confidence for the year ahead stayed positive overall, sentiment softened from November and remained below trend due to uncertainty surrounding government policy and economic affordability.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a modest increase of 50,000 jobs in December as the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.4%, with the number of unemployed at 7.5 million. A year earlier, the jobless rate stood at 4.1%, and unemployment totaled approximately 6.9 million. December job gains were led by food services and drinking places (+27,000) and health care (+21,000), while employment declined in retail trade (-25,000), particularly among warehouse clubs and general merchandise retailers (-19,000) and food and beverage retailers (-9,000). Federal government employment showed little net change (+2,000) but is down 277,000, or 9.2%, since reaching a peak earlier in the year. Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose 0.3% to $37.02, reflecting a 3.8% increase over the past year. Meanwhile, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless 27 weeks or more) rose slightly to 1.9 million—26.0% of the total unemployed, up from 1.5 million—22.7% a year earlier. Revisions to October and November data showed that employment in those months combined was 76,000 lower than previously reported.

Upcoming Economic Reports:

Tuesday January 13 – CPI (YoY) (December)

Wednesday January 14 – Retail Sales (MoM) (November)

Earnings Calendar:

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Sono-Tek (SOTK)	Delta Air Lines (DAL)	Bank of America (BAC)	JB Hunt Transport Servs (JBHT)	PNC Financial Services Gr (PNC)
Wealthfront (WLTH)	JPMorgan Chase (JPM)	H.B. Fuller (FUL)	Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM)	Wipro (WIT)