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Wall Street hits an all-time high amidst slowest U.S. job growth in last six months

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Wall Street’s main indexes rose to all-time highs on Friday as data showing the slowest U.S. jobs growth in six months spurred stimulus bets in the market.

The shares’ momentum has raised investors’ expectations for a new fiscal relief bill to help revive the pandemic hit economy.

So-called “cyclical” stocks seen as particularly sensitive to the economy, such as energy.SPNY, materials.SPLRCM and industrials.SPLRCI, shined as most S&P 500 sectors rose.

President-elect Joe Biden said Friday’s “grim” jobs report shows the economic recovery is stalling and warned the “dark winter” ahead would exacerbate the pain unless the U.S. Congress passes a coronavirus relief bill immediately.

Meanwhile, the  Labor Department’s closely watched report showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 245,000 jobs in November, below economists’ expectations of 469,000 jobs and the smallest gain since the labor recovery started in May.

Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in North Carolina commented, “The bad news of the weakening jobs picture is potentially good news for investors because it means that the stimulus bill is much more likely to take place in a fairly short time frame.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 248.74 points, or 0.83%, to 30,218.26, the S&P 500 ,SPX gained 32.40 points, or 0.88%, to 3,699.12 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 87.05 points, or 0.7%, to 12,464.23.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average.DJT and the small-cap Russell 2000.RUT also posted record closing highs.

The benchmark 10-year yield US10YT=RR hit its highest level since March at over 0.98%, helping support financial shares.SPSY which are highly sensitive to interest rates.

The energy sector jumped 5.4%, spurred by gains in oil prices. Shares of Diamondback Energy Inc FANG.O surged 12.7% and Occidental Petroleum OXY.N gained 13.4%.

Eric Freedman, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. said, “There is just a lot of catch-up happening with those sectors and sub-sectors that have really struggled year to date.”

Utilities.SPLRCU lagged the most among major sectors, falling 1%.

Positive vaccine updates from drugmakers have raised investor hopes for an economic recovery next year and overshadowed worries over a surge in U.S. infections, helping the major indexes to another week of gains after the benchmark S&P 500 surged over 10% in November.

In company news, Boeing BA.N shares fell 1.9% as a top company executive said the company is reducing the production of its 787 Dreamliner for the fourth time in 18 months. All major airlines have a piled -up stock of inventory to clear as most countries have suspended air travel till the vaccine comes.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.54-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.95-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 50 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 222 new highs and 6 new lows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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