U.S. stocks traded in a mixed manner Friday, with investors digesting signs of a slowing cooling labour market, giving the Federal Reserve food for thought as it tries to tame inflation.
At 09:40 ET (13:40 GMT), Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 30 points, or 0.1%, lower, while the S&P 500 gained 6 points or 0.1%, and the NASDAQ Composite climbed 60 points, or 0.3%.
Payrolls point to a slowly cooling labour market.
The U.S. economy added more jobs than anticipated in June. However, the figure was lower than the prior month, pointing to a possible cooling in labour demand in the world’s largest economy.
Nonfarm payrolls came in at 206,000 last month, down from 218,000 in May, according to Labor Department data on Friday. The May reading was also revised down heavily from an initial mark of 272,000, while April’s was lowered by 57,000 to 108,000.
Economists had seen the June number at 191,000.
Additionally, the unemployment rate rose to 4.1%, from 4.0% in May, and month-on-month average hourly wage growth slowed slightly.
“The June rise in nonfarm payroll was slightly higher than expectations, but the big downward revisions to April and May are the story. The job market is slowing down,” said Kathy Jones, Chief Fixed Income Strategist at Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) (NYSE: SCHW), in a post on social media platform X.
This cooling in the jobs market through June also comes after a series of weaker-than-expected labour market readings this week.
Weak ADP employment and job openings readings, coupled with a softer non-manufacturing PMI, ramped up hopes that the Fed would have enough confidence to begin cutting rates.
Equity markets were closed for the Independence Day holiday on Thursday, but the Wall Street indexes were sitting at record highs hit earlier this week.
Tesla boosted by Chinese demand.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock rose around 1% with several state-owned firms in China’s financial hub of Shanghai recently purchasing the EV manufacturer’s best-selling Model Y as service cars, following a local media report saying Tesla cars had been made eligible for a Chinese local government purchase list.
Macy’s (NYSE: M) stock rose over 7% after the Wall Street Journal reported that Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management have raised their bid to buy the department store chain for about $6.9 billion.
Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) stock fell 6%, with the cryptocurrency exchange suffering after Bitcoin, the world’s most popular digital currency, fell to its lowest point since February.
Crude on course for weekly gains
Crude prices hovered around the flatline on Friday but were on track for a fourth consecutive positive week on hopes of strong summer fuel demand in the U.S.
By 09:40 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) fell 0.1% to $83.78 a barrel, while the Brent contract was 0.1% lower at $87.35 a barrel.
Oil rose this week on strong summer demand expectations in the U.S., the world’s largest oil consumer, with official data from the Energy Information Administration showing that the country’s crude and fuel stockpiles all fell by more than projected last week.
Market sentiment has also been underpinned this week by intensifying geopolitical tension in the Middle East.
