Stock market today: Dow falters as wages disappoint

Text size

The stock market was mixed on Friday after the September jobs report missed estimates.

In the middle of the morning, the

Dow Jones Industrial Average
was up 17 points, or less than 0.1%, while the

S&P 500
has changed little and the

Nasdaq Composite
was down 0.1%. The 10-year US Treasury yield first declined and then rose to 1.61%.

The United States created 194,000 jobs in September, missing the forecast of 500,000 and below the revised August reading of 366,000. The unemployment rate, however, fell to 4.8%.

Investors wanted to see that when the benefits of the pandemic ended, people get back to work quickly. That didn’t happen, and bond yields initially fell, as did the Dow Jones, an index made up largely of economically sensitive stocks. This then reversed, with the Dow Jones overtaking the Nasdaq.

But the weak jobs report potentially means the Federal Reserve could cut its bond purchases at a slower pace. This would mean that more money than expected would be invested in bonds, raising their prices and lowering their yields. Investors expected the Fed to cut monthly bond purchases by $ 15 billion, but that number could be lower now.

“On the one hand, it is [jobs report] a blow to our economic recovery, on the other hand, delaying Fed policy means that the era of easy money continues, ”wrote Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at ETrade.

Still, the Fed’s accommodative policy did not appear to be the main takeaway for investors on Friday, as yields were rising.

“A lower-than-expected number of jobs is unlikely to change the thinking of the Fed,” wrote Richard Saperstein, chief investment officer of Treasury Partners. “The Federal Reserve remains on track to start cutting its stimulus measures in November or December.”

After a hectic week of trading, during which investors worried about familiar fears such as inflation and supply chain pressures, stocks rallied on Thursday as Congress reached agreement on the debt ceiling and that an apparent gas crisis in Europe was avoided. The S&P 500 closed Thursday just 3% below its all-time high reached in September.

Abroad, in Tokyo

Nikkei 225
rose 1.3% as investors reacted positively to orders from new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to have his cabinet compile economic stimulus packages for a supplementary budget to be submitted after an election at the end of the month.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 lost 0.3%.

Elsewhere, oil prices rose to the high levels reached earlier in the week, with continuing crude futures up about 2%.

The international benchmark Brent was trading at over $ 82 a barrel, near its highest level in three years.

Here are nine stocks in motion on Friday:

Ali Baba

Hong Kong-listed stocks (9988.HK) rose 5.6%, after

Ali Baba

US-listed stocks (BABA) rose after jumping 8.3% on Thursday, the biggest daily percentage increase since April 2021. US-listed stock rose another 2.7% on Friday .

Quidel Corp
.

The share (QDEL) rose 2.2% after the company said third-quarter sales would be between $ 505 million and $ 510 million, ahead of analysts’ estimates of $ 251 million , according to FactSet. The company said it shipped more than double the number of SARS tests year over year.

Connect the power

The stock (PLUG) gained 4.1% after being leveled at equal weight to underweight at Barclays.

Pacific Union

The stock (UNP) rose 1.6% after being overweight neutral at JPMorgan.

JB Hunt Transport Services

(JBHT) stock fell 1.2% after being downgraded to Underweight Neutral at JPMorgan.

Lowe’s

Cos. (LOW) and

Home deposit

(HD) fell 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, after being demoted to Hold from Buy at Loop Capital.

Rising crude prices have given big oil companies a boost, with

PA

(BP) up 2.7% and

Royal Dutch Shell

(RDS.A) up 2.2% in London.

Write to Jacob Sonenshine at [email protected]