Stock Market News For Jun 4, 2018

Markets closed higher on Friday on a stronger-than-expected jobs report, shrugging off trade off fears to some extent. This saw a rally in stocks, led by the broader tech sector. All three major indexes made significant gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.9%, to close at 24,635.21. The S&P 500 increased 1.1% to close at 2,734.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 7,554.33, increasing 1.5%. A total of 7.04 billion shares were traded on Friday, higher than the last 20-session average of 6.61 billion shares. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.47-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.41-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.

How did the Benchmark Perform?

The Dow gained 219.37 points, paring the losses it made in the previous session. Shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) surged 1.1%. The S&P 500 gained 29.35 points, led by a rally in tech and financial stocks. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) and Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) gained 1.7% and 1.1%, respectively.

The tech heavy Nasdaq gained 112.21 points, lead by a rally in tech stocks. Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) , Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) , Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) , Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) , Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) jumped 1.8%, 2%, 1.2%, 0.7%, 2.4% and 3.2%, respectively. Amazon has a Zacks Rank #1 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (String Buy) stocks here.

Strong U.S. Employment Report

Government data reflected robust U.S. jobs additions in May. The U.S. economy saw 223,000 job additions in May, exceeding the consensus estimate of 190,000. Also average hourly wages reflected slight improvement of 0.3%, increasing 2.7% year over year, better than expectations of 0.2%. The impressive data reinstated investors’ confidence, which saw stocks rallying.

Moreover, unemployment fell to 3.8%, hitting an 18-year low. The total number of unemployed individuals declined to 6.1 million. The robust data is an indication that the Fed is on track to raise interest rates in June and could likely add another rate hike this year.

Trade War Fears Ease

Trade war fears have kept the markets volatile for quite some time now. President Donald Trump on Thursday announced imposition of fresh tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico, which had resulted in huge sell offs.

However, the stronger-than-expected jobs data helped reinstated investors’ confidence on Friday, which somewhat helped pare the losses made in the previous session.

Weekly Roundup

Although all three major indexes ended in positive territory on Friday, it was a mixed week for the markets. The week was once again marred by trade war fears, as Trump imposed fresh tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from the EU, Canada and Mexico.

Also, growing political turmoil in two Eurozone countries, Italy and Spain, saw markets taking a hit. However, markets recovered slightly mid-week, as energy stocks rallied after oil prices surged. The Dow ended the week lower by 0.5%. However, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the week 0.5% and 1.6% higher, respectively.

Stocks That Made Headlines

Abercrombie Q1 Loss Narrower Than Expected, Sales Beat

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE:ANF) reported narrower-than-expected loss per share in first-quarter fiscal 2018, while the top line beat estimates. (Read More)

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