Stocks fell late Friday, erasing earlier gains fueled by the latest U.S. jobs data and a slew of corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 102 points, or about 0.3%. At its highs the Dow gained near 291 points, or 0.8%. The S&P 500 shed 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite hovered near the flatline.
All the major indexes are on pace to end the week lower, after wrapping up a blowout July earlier in the week. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 are down about 2.4% and 2%, respectively. The Dow has moved nearly 1% lower on a week-to-date basis.
“People this week seem more respectful of risk than they were before,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, adding that “lots of bear have been capitulating, which is often a sign that we’re closer to the end of a rally than the beginning.”
Friday marked the final day of what’s been the busiest week of second-quarter earnings season. Amazon jumped 10% to its highest level in nearly a year after trouncing expectations on profit and offering positive guidance. Apple lost 4% after reporting lower revenue than the year-ago quarter.
In a sign of the boom in travel and services demand, Booking Holdings gained 8% on stronger-than-expected results. Amgen popped 5.5% on solid earnings and a boosted guidance.
Earnings reports this season for the quarter ended in June have continued to surprise some Wall Street analysts as the expected slowdown in profits proves less than feared. About 84% of S&P 500 companies have given results, with 80% surpassing Wall Street expectations, according to FactSet.
The 10-year Treasury yield also pulled back from a multimonth high to 4.08%. Its rise in recent sessions had pressured risk assets.
Investors also received more clues into the state of the labor market with Friday’s payrolls report. The data showed 187,000 jobs added in July, less than the 200,000 expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate also ticked lower to 3.5% from 3.6%.
Despite the cooler headline numbers, average hourly wages pointed toward more inflation and came in ahead of expectations, rising 0.4% for the month, and 4.4% on an annualized basis. That came in slightly ahead of the 0.3% and 4.2% expected, respectively.
Many on Wall Street had been eagerly awaiting the jobs report and its implications for the Federal Reserve’s rate-hiking cycle. Nearly 87% of traders expect the central bank to hold rates steady at its next meeting in September, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
But next week’s consumer price for July could make an even greater impact on rate expectations, said Wells Fargo’s Christopher Harvey.
“A hotter-than-expected print is one of the few things that could really start to change the market’s perception of the Fed, and maybe the Fed’s perception as well,” he said. “But today’s job number, I don’t think does much of anything. I think it solidifies people’s view that the Fed is done at this point.”
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed reporting
More Stories
USDOT releases update to ITS Architecture Reference tools
Apple just pushed out a significant security update
John Stankey Updates Shareholders at the 2023 Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference