Disappointing Jobs Data May Weigh on Wall Street

April 7, 2017
wall street

Disappointing Jobs Data May Weigh on Wall Street

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Friday following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing much weaker than expected job growth in the month of March. Geopolitical concerns may also weigh on the markets after the U.S. launched a missile strike on a Syrian airbase overnight.

Stocks managed to end Thursday’s trading modestly higher but well off their best levels of the session. The uptick on the day came on the heels of the late-day pullback that was seen on Wednesday.

The major averages ended the day just above the unchanged line. The Dow inched up 14.80 points or 0.1 percent to 20,662.95, the Nasdaq rose 14.47 points or 0.3 percent to 5,878.95 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.54 points or 0.2 percent to 2,357.49.

The modestly higher close on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report.

A highly anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping also kept some traders on the sidelines.

Trump and Xi are holding a two-day meeting at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, with the issues of trade and North Korea likely to be key areas of discussion.

Earlier in the day, the Labor Department released a report showing a bigger than expected drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended April 1st.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 234,000, a decrease of 25,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 259,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 250,000.

Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although considerable strength was visible among energy stocks. The strength in the energy sector came amid an increase by the price of crude oil.

Reflecting the strength in the sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index advanced by 1.6 percent and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index rose by 1.3 percent.

Electronic storage, housing, and brokerage stocks also saw some strength on the day, while gold stocks moved lower despite an increase by the price of the precious metal.

Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan.

Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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