Tech Stocks Climb Despite Disappointing Jobs Report
May 07 2021 - 10:30AM
Dow Jones News
By Anna Hirtenstein and Gunjan Banerji
Technology and other growth stocks jumped and government-bond
yields declined after disappointing jobs data suggested a potential
slowdown in the pace of the economic recovery.
The Nasdaq Composite added 1% shortly after the opening bell,
outpacing its peers. The S&P 500 ticked up 0.5%, a day after
the broad-market index closed near its all-time high. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average inched up 66 points, or 0.2%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.536%, from
1.561% on Thursday, on track for a sixth consecutive day of
declines.
The monthly jobs report showed employers added 266,000 jobs in
April and the unemployment rose to 6.1%. These figures
significantly missed the expectations of economists who estimated
that payrolls grew by one million and the unemployment rate fell to
5.8%. It sat at a record 14.8% in April 2020 in the midst of the
early stages of the pandemic.
The jobs miss comes as many investors had ramped up bets that
the economy was poised for a rapid upswing in coming months as
businesses around the country reopen and many Americans have been
vaccinated. The latest data dampened some of those optimistic
projections.
"We were very surprised," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief
investment officer of Independent Advisor Alliance, adding that he
thinks that the economy will continue to recover, but at a slower
pace than expected.
Still, stocks are poised for a second week of muted gains, with
sentiment bolstered by Federal Reserve officials reiterating
pledges to refrain from tightening monetary policy until the labor
market is recovered. To some analysts, the big miss in the monthly
jobs report was a reassuring sign that the Fed would not move more
quickly than expected to raise rates.
Nasdaq futures soared in the wake of the data, highlighting the
continued back and forth in the market between technology shares --
which have flourished as interest rates have stayed low and the
economy floundered -- and cyclical corners of the market that many
investors thought were poised to benefit from a speedy economic
recovery. On signs of flagging economic momentum, investors again
quickly piled back into the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said
technology stocks are seeing a "relief rally" after trading lower
for much of the week.
"I think there was a big fear going into [today's report] that
this number was going to come in so hot and put extreme pressure on
the Fed," Mr. Kinahan said. "Many expected it could be...the number
that started to take the markets down because it would be such an
inflationary number."
He added that Friday's figure, combined with the downward
revision in the March jobs number to 770,000, means the Federal
Reserve will likely need to see much more substantial progress on
the employment situation before considering a change in monetary
policy.
"This week was really still a combination of the post-Covid
recovery and how interest-rate policy will respond," said Kiran
Ganesh, a multiasset strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management.
"The performance of some cyclical stocks and commodities suggests
that this reopening trade is still on track."
Earnings season continues, with self-driving truck company
Nikola among those reporting Friday.
Peloton shares rose 7.4% after reporting a smaller quarterly
loss than analysts expected and sales that more than doubled.
Travel-booking website Expedia added 6.2% after also reporting a
narrower loss than Wall Street forecast. Energy drinks maker
Monster Beverage fell more than 5% after reporting first-quarter
earnings that missed estimates and a shortage of aluminum cans.
In commodities, copper prices surpassed their 2011 highs and
were on course to close at a record, fueled by bets on the global
economic rebound and on rising demand from efforts to decarbonize
the power and transportation sectors. Three-month copper forwards
rose 2.4% to $10,355 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange. In
New York, copper futures on CME Group's Comex rose 2.5% to $4.72 a
pound.
Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.6%.
The Shanghai Composite Index pulled back 0.7%, and Japan's
Nikkei 225 advanced 0.1%.
Caitlin McCabe contributed to this article.
Write to Anna Hirtenstein at anna.hirtenstein@wsj.com and Gunjan
Banerji at Gunjan.Banerji@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 07, 2021 10:15 ET (14:15 GMT)
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