Friends
Just as Meta (Facebook) took the wind out of the sails of the bulls on Thursday, Amazon actually helped get things back on track after a nice earnings release after the close yesterday. Then this morning we got a very good, but very confusing, jobs report. Non-farm payrolls rose 467,000 in January which was much higher than the 150,000 analysts estimate. In addition, the payroll numbers from both November and December of last year got massive upward revisions. All of this sent bond yields higher (bond prices lower), but the stock market took some time to decipher the jobs numbers. This jobs report, however, does likely clear the path for a more aggressive tightening schedule for the Fed. Of course, we will see.
As for the markets, by the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 21 points to finish the day at 35,089. The S&P 500 was up 23 points to close at 4,500. The wild roller coaster that is the Nasdaq was up 219 points to close at 14,098. Gold was up $3 to trade at $1,807, while oil was up $2.17 to trade at $92.44 per barrel WTI.
As mentioned, the Nasdaq has been the wild ride so far this year often moving as much as 2%-3% or more per day. At some point that will likely calm down a bit, but this earnings season has produced some of the wildest share price moves after releases that I have ever seen. Big behemoth companies moving 20% to 30% on earnings reports has not been common in the past. But as we know, these aren’t exactly normal times. Anyway, we’ll be back in the saddle on Monday. Stay warm!
Have a great weekend everyone.
