Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 1, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
The Nasdaq Composite was higher on Friday as quarterly results from technology companies including Facebook-parent Meta buoyed the sector after a stronger-than expected jobs report.
The tech-heavy index climbed 1.2%, while the S&P 500 ticked up 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered near the flat line.
Shares of Meta popped nearly 20% after the social-media giant defied analysts’ expectations. The Facebook-parent also announced it will pay a quarterly dividend for the first time, and it authorized a $50 billion share buyback program. Amazon shares jumped 7% on fourth-quarter beats. However, Apple slid 2% after the company posted a decline in sales in China during the fiscal first quarter.
Elsewhere, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield jumped 15 basis points to 4% after the government reported the U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs in January, well above the Dow Jones estimate of 185,000.
The report also included inflationary data in the form of greater-than-expected wage growth. Wages expanded by 4.5% year over year, more than a 4.1% forecast. This comes after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled this week that a March rate cut was unlikely.
“[T]he incremental fall in the unemployment rate and the jump in average hourly earnings fills out a consistent picture of a still-robust labor market,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander. “Will this finally cool the market sentiment toward early rate cuts? I still think the Fed is on hold until November.”
The strong jobs report can also indicate inflation will remain in check as productivity remains robust which will support growth for stocks, according to TradeStation global head of market strategy David Russell.
“Longer term, stocks could be in a strong spot with accelerating economic growth supporting consumption and earnings,” Russell said.
The moves follow a rebound session on Wall Street. The major averages gained around 1% each, a day after selling off on the back of the Federal Reserve signaling that a March rate cut was unlikely.
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