march 2  welcome to the home for realtime coverage of markets brought to you by reuters reporters you can share your thoughts with us at marketsresearchthomsonreuterscom us house speaker nancy pelosi has disclosed a new batch of equities trades in companies including apple and walt disney in her newest periodic transaction report the senior democrat disclosed that her husband financier paul pelosi on jan 21 exercised call options to buy shares of apple aaplo walt disney disn and paypal holdings pyplo for a combined 29 million based on the options strike prices he also invested between 250000 and 500000 in asset management firm alliancebernstein holding abn users on social media platforms including twitter reddit youtube and tiktok have increasingly scrutinized pelosis trade disclosures in recent months believing her position as house speaker gives her an edge read more a 2012 law makes it illegal for lawmakers to use information from their work in congress for their personal gain the law requires them to disclose stock transactions by themselves or family members within 45 days a multimillionaire pelosi in january signaled she might be willing to advance legislation to completely ban stock trading by lawmakers that was a reversal from her previous position defending lawmakers right to trade stocks pelosis stock trading performance ranked sixthbest in 2021 in congress with republican congressman austin scott leading the way according to an analysis by unusual whales a service selling financial data us stocks gain as they digest powell eye ukraine 1049 est1549 gmt us stock indexes are higher on wednesday as federal reserve chair jerome powell signaled the central bank would start raising rates this month despite uncertainties stemming from the ukraine crisis all major sp 500 spx sectors are gaining with energy spny posting the biggest rise nymex crude futures are rallying more than 3 after hitting a low of around 168 on tuesday the us 10year treasury yield is back up to the 180 area with this banks spxbk are snapping back after two sharp days of losses fangs nyfang and clean energy stocks eco are among losers on the day regarding fed chair powells remarks to the us house of representatives financial services committee ryan detrick chief market strategist at lpl financial research said fed chair jerome powell confirmed an interest rate hike will likely come in march but due to the geopolitical concerns he opened the door to the possibility that the rate rise will be only 25 basis points versus 50 basis points along with an overall slightly more dovish outlook as it pertains to future monetary policy here is where markets stand in midmorning trade data released on wednesday showed a robust labor market and a housing sector dipping below the stratosphere private us employers added 475000 jobs in february coming in well above consensus according to payrolls processor adp read more the upside surprise in adps national employment report usadpeci was sweetened by its january number drastically revised to show 509000 private sector jobs were added in the first month of the year instead of the originally reported 301000 jobs lost large businesses and the services sector were the big gainers making up for 96000 jobs shed by companies with fewer than 50 employees while the adp data is an unreliable predictor of the labor departments more comprehensive employment report the number is a sunny 26 higher than the 378000 private job adds analysts expect on friday in fact the adplabor department disconnect has some analysts dismissing the data it makes no sense to care about this number or react to it writes ian shepherdson lead economist at pantheon macroeconomics it is statistically insignificant as an indicator of the official payroll numbers we’re sticking to our 600k forecast for friday’s print shepherdson adds the graphic below illustrates the disparity between adp and labor department private payrolls data a separate report from the mortgage bankers association mba showed overall demand for home loans edged lower last week as interest rates continued their uphill climb the average 30year fixed contract rate usmgeci added 9 basis points to 415 leading to a 18 decline in applications for loans to purchase homes usmgpieci refi demand usmgreci however inched up 05 as borrowers seek to take advantage of stillrelativelylow rates before that train leaves the station the housing market is increasingly burdened by the weight of the success it enjoyed during the health crisis which prompted a suburban stampede and sent inventories to record lows rising mortgage rates tracking a widening in treasury yield spreads are adding salt to the wound of spiking home prices and pushing the prospect of home ownership beyond the grasp of many potential homebuyers the backup in mortgage rates since the end of 2021 is taking a toll on homebuying affordability which has already been eroded by a sharp climb in home prices says nancy vanden houten lead economist at oxford economics the recent loss of momentum in purchase applications and the decline in pending home sales in january point to a decline in existing home sales in february and perhaps march after their upside surprise in january as shown in the graphic below overall mortgage demand is now 417 below where it was at the same week last year in late january one measure of the nasdaqs ixic internal strength plunged to a historically low level since then however and despite fresh ixic lows this measure is attempting to mount a constructive turn the nasdaq new highnew low nhnl index which topped at 964 in january 2021 and had been diverging for eight months into the nasdaq composites ixic november peak plunged to just 6 on january 28 late januarys 6 trough can be considered historically low and potentially washed out since the great financial crisis sub10 readings have ultimately been closely associated with major ixic bottoms with the composites subsequent rally off its latejanuary low the measure did improve to 222 on february 11 however amid renewed jitters the nhnl index turned down again and hit 109 on february 24 it has now risen threestraight days ending tuesday at 140 since this measure does not have a tendency to flatline for long but instead form vbottoms and abrupt tops traders will be watching to see if 109 proves to be a solid higherlow in what is a burgeoning up trend read more resistance is at the 10day moving average which ended tuesday at 151 and then the 222 level the latejanuary trough at 6 is support for wednesdays live markets posts prior to 0900 est1400 gmt  click here read more terence gabriel is a reuters market analyst the views expressed are his own