Stocks Climb as S&P 500, Dow Hit Records--Update
May 07 2021 - 5:11PM
Dow Jones News
By Anna Hirtenstein and Gunjan Banerji
A lackluster monthly jobs report sparked a rebound in technology
shares and other growth stocks Friday, helping send the S&P 500
and Dow Jones Industrial Average to fresh highs.
The broad stock market index ticked up 30.98 points, or 0.7%, to
4232.60, while the Dow inched up 229.23 points, or 0.7%, to
34777.76. The milestones marked the respective indexes' 26th and
24th record closes of 2021.
The Nasdaq Composite added 119.39 points, or 0.9%, to 13752.24,
outpacing its peers. The index is off 2.7% from the high it set
about two weeks ago.
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 disappointing data spurred a sharp swing in the bond market.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell as low
as 1.487%, according to Tradeweb, compared with roughly 1.570% just
before the report was released and 1.561% Thursday. It settled at
1.576% Friday, snapping a five-session losing streak.
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, and led some analysts to re-evaluate their
expectations on how quickly the Federal Reserve would move to raise
rates in the future.
"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, the S&P 500 and Dow edged higher for a second week,
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 wouldn't move more
quickly than expected to raise rates.
The outperformance of growth stocks highlighted the continued
shifting leadership in the stock 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 tech and other growth stocks.
JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said
technology stocks saw 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."
In corporate news, travel-booking website Expedia added $8.64,
or 5.2%, to $173.46, after reporting a narrower loss than Wall
Street forecast. Energy drinks maker Monster Beverage fell $3.77,
or 4%, to $91.25 after reporting first-quarter earnings that missed
estimates and a shortage of aluminum cans.
In commodities, copper prices surpassed their 2011 highs, fueled
by bets on the global economic rebound and on rising demand from
efforts to decarbonize the power and transportation sectors. In New
York, copper futures on CME Group's Comex rose 3.2% to $4.77 a
pound, a new high.
Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.9%.
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 16:56 ET (20:56 GMT)
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