US markets end mostly higher following monthly jobs data

07 Aug 2021 Evaluate

The US markets ended mostly higher on Friday as better than expected jobs data added to economic optimism but also raised concerns about the outlook for monetary policy. Nasdaq pulled back of Yesterday's record closing high, the Dow and S&P 500 reached new record closing highs. The Labor Department released a report showing non-farm payroll employment spiked by 943,000 jobs in July after surging by an upwardly revised 938,000 jobs in June. Street had expected employment to jump by 870,000 jobs compared to the addition of 850,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The stronger than expected job growth was partly due to sharp increases in employment in leisure and hospitality and local government education, which shot up by 380,000 jobs and 221,000 jobs, respectively. Reflecting the strong job growth, the unemployment rate slid to 5.4 percent in July from 5.9 percent in June, falling to its lowest level since March of 2020. Street had expected the unemployment rate to dip to 5.7 percent.

Meanwhile, banking stocks moved sharply higher in morning trading, with the KBW Bank Index surging up by 2.6 percent to its best closing level in almost two months. Significant strength was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent jump by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The strength in the oil service sector came despite a decrease by the price of crude oil. Brokerage stocks also showed a considerable move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index up by 1.7 percent On the other hand, gold stocks showed substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 3.8 percent. The sell-off by gold stocks comes amid a nosedive by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery plunging $45.80 to $1,763.10 an ounce.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 144.26 points or 0.41 percent to 35,208.51 and S&P 500 was up by 7.42 points or 0.17 percent to 4,436.52, while Nasdaq fell 59.35 points or 0.40 percent to 14,835.76.

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