Stock market today: Shares fall despite job numbers, U.S.-China trade deal talk-2018-11-02



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DESPITE great news on jobs in October and talk of a possible U.S.-China trade deal in the works, U.S. stocks fell Friday as big loss from Apple high-dividend companies.

The iPhone maker, the world's largest technology company, forecast weak revenue growth Thursday evening and said it will stop disclosing quarterly phone sales. Apple shares fell 6.6 percent.

Stocks had been increased over the last three days and were still growing faster after seven months of losing weight. Positive goal news Friday. The federal government said jobs added 250,000 jobs in October, and more than analysts expected, and hourly pay jumped 3.1 percent, the most since the beginning of 2009.

In addition, President Donald Trump said Thursday he spoke with China's Xi Jinping and that trade talks are "moving along nicely," boosting Wall Street's hopes for a resolution to a deepening dispute that threatens tariffs and other penalties on the billions of dollars worth of business activity between the two economic powers.

The Dow fell 110 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 25,271. The S & P 500 ended the day 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq, which has a high concentration of technology companies, lost 1 percent. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks added 0.2 percent.

The S & P 500 rose roughly 2 percent this week after 7.9 percent to match the all-time high.

A hopeful start

Many investors had started the day hoping, with overseas stocks up sharply following Mr. Trump's announcement that he has asked for a new contract with China. of 20 nations in Bloomberg News, reported Bloomberg News.

Trade-related issues have weighed in on the sentiment of the United States, said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist for Charles Schwab.

"Companies are saying 'this is biting and here's how,'" she said. "They're starting to talk about profit margins and they're going to spend on consumers."

Mr. Trump did not give details about his discussions with Xi, but there are few signs of movement in the trade, and investors are getting nervous about since their highs in August.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told reporters the discussion was positive and that the two leaders were optimistic about resolving the dispute over trade practices and technology development. Meanwhile, Chinese state media said China's entrepreneurs in a renewed effort to revive the cooling, state-dominated Chinese economy.

Not so fast: Continuing turmoil?

Yet until there's clarity on a trade deal, investors may continue to freight, noted CityIndex analyst Fiona Cincotta.

"A formal meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart will take place at the G-20 summit and is likely to inject volatility into a trading strategy." She wrote in a research note.

October brought a sudden, screeching halt to a milestone-setting September and snapped up a six-month winning streak for the S & P 500 benchmark index. Last month clocked in the worst month for the market since September 2011.

Investors may be on their toes until the trade dispute is resolved. Mr. Trump "has been known to blow up and flatter one day," Cincotta noted.

Other analysts were outright skeptical of the prospects for a China trade deal. "President Trump's reported request for a new deal on a deal with China is likely to be made to a market rally heading into the midterm elections on November 6 rather than an imminent breakthrough," Capital Capital's Clayton Allen argued in a note Friday.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

The Department of Labor said U.S. employers continued to add jobs at a fast clip in October, with no sign that hiring is slowing down. The proportion of Americans with jobs is at its highest level since January 2009, and the monthly increase in pay was also the largest since then. Along with high consumer confidence, these are all good signs for economic growth and consumer spending in the months to come.

Bond prices dropped, sharply higher yields. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rating jumps to 3.22 percent, from 3.14 percent. Last fall in the market's downturn, but investors on Friday did not seem to be worried about the increase. "It's clearly a good report," said David Lefkowitz, Senior Equity Strategist Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management.

The wage number, while high, was about what investors were expecting, Lefkowitz said. That's important because investors are still sensitive to signs of inflation. If inflation grows moderately, as it appeared in October, that's not as likely.

Apple cored

Apple's sales in its latest quarter and its estimates for the holiday season both disappointed experts. The tech will also exclude the number of iPhones it sells each quarter. Apple was one of the most popular smartphone makers in the world. Apple gets most of its revenue from iPhone sales and it's boosted its profits by selling higher-priced models.

The unexpected change raised suspicions that Apple might be trying to mask downturn in the phone's popularity. The company says the quarterly numbers and prices do not need to say investors how strong its business has been.

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