U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday following a stronger-than-expected report on the state of the American labor market.
How stocks are trading
-
S&P 500
SPX,
-0.31%
dipped 17 points, or 0.5% to 3885 -
Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.13%
was down 60 points, or 0.2%, to 31326. - Nasdaq Composite eased 99 points, or 0.8%, to 11521.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
rose 347 points, or 1.12%, to 31385, the S&P 500
SPX,
increased 58 points, or 1.5%, to 3903, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
gained 259 points, or 2.28%, to 11621.
What’s happening
U.S. stocks were mostly lower as stocks looked set to reverse some of their moves from earlier in the week after Friday’s jobs data from June.
The U.S. created a robust 372,000 new jobs in June, substantially higher than the 250,000 expected, according to a poll of economists by the Wall Street Journal.
See: U.S. creates 372,000 jobs in June. Strong labor market a bulwark against recession
The data showed more robust labor-market growth than expected, although there were some downward revisions to numbers from prior months.
Market strategists attributed the market reaction to the data as an example of the “good news is bad news” dynamic asserting itself.
“The short answer is today’s number is a ‘good news is bad news’ scenario for stocks and bonds. If you’re looking for a job, it’s very good news, if you’re trying to invest, it’s not market friendly because it allows the Fed to continue hiking,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers.
The S&P 500 index has enjoyed four consecutive days of gains this week, its best winning run since the end of March. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are on track to see their second straight week of gains unless stocks drop sharply on Friday.
Still, the S&P 500 is down roughly 20% since the start of the year, as investors hope that fears about the second-quarter corporate earnings reporting season are already baked in. The bulk of earnings reports will be published over the coming weeks.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield
TMUBMUSD10Y,
rose after the jobs number, with the yield on the 10-year up nearly 4 basis points to 3.05%.
Other markets
-
Asian equities mostly responded positively to the overnight gains on Wall Street. Japan’s Nikkei 225
NIK,
+0.10%
pared its advance following news of the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, adding 0.1%. But China’s Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP,
-0.25%
fell 0.25%, despite expectations Beijing is considering further fiscal stimulus. -
WTI crude
CL.1,
+0.67%
was up 2.3% at $105 a barrel. The benchmark rallied 4.3% on Thursday, after data showed that US oil inventories of 428 million barrels, about 10% below the five year average for this time of year, according to Enercom Analytics. -
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the buck’s strength against a basket of rivals,
DXY,
-0.04%
gained 0.1% to 107, close to a fresh 19-year high as the euro moves closer to parity with the greenback. -
Gold
GC00,
+0.11%
was down 0.4% a day after snapping a seven-day losing streak. -
Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
-1.32%
is down 1.5% to $21280, having gained ground in three of the last four days.
