Courtesy of Blain.
Indexes opened in the green on a strong jobs report and built on that through the morning; at the close the S&P 500 gained 0.86% and NASDAQ 1.06%. The U.S. economy added 255,000 jobs in July, well above the expected 180,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9%. Though still mired near generational lows, the labor force participation rate ticked up one-tenth to 62.8% as those counted as not in the labor force decreased 184,000 to 94.3 million. Hourly wages also moved higher, increasing by 8 cents or an annualized pace of 2.6%, while the average work week edged up to 34.5 hours.
“After three weeks of stocks not doing much, … this is the catalyst for stocks to continue higher,” said Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones. “I think it puts to bed fears of a faltering economy.”
“It was a pretty good number,” said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel Fixed Income. “This is another data point that supports the thesis that the labor market is improving” after a sluggish first half.
The probability for a September move rose from 12% to 18% while a hike before the end of the year moved from 34.4% to 46.5%.
The S&P 500 finished at an all time high and the NASDAQ is back above the winter 2015 highs it had fallen below.
The Russell 2000 held this floor of just under 1200 the past month.
The NYSE McClellan Oscillator is still in the red but nearly back to unchanged.
Financials liked today’s economic data quite a bit.
Apple (AAPL) continues its post earnings rock and rolling.
FireEye (FEYE) tumbled 12% after the security-software company late Thursday reported disappointing earnings and announced plans for hundreds of job cuts.
Merck (MCK) surged more than 10% after Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) late-stage trial of a cancer treatment failed to meet its primary endpoint. Bristol-Myers shares plunged to close 16% lower.
Stay frosty this weekend and see you Monday.
