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Wall Street closed sharply higher on Friday after a choppy session following better-than-expected jobs data for February. All the three major stock indexes ended in green. For the week as a whole, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory while the Nasdaq Composite finished in red.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rallied 1.9% or 572.16 points to close at 31,496.30. The index dropped 150 points at intraday session low. Notably, 28 components of the 30-stock index ended in the green while 2 in red and. Major gainer of the Dow was Chevron Corp. (CVX - Free Report) with a gain of 4.3%. Chevron carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Nasdaq Composite finished at 12,920.15, surging 1.6% or 196.68 points due to strong performance by large-cap tech stocks. The teach-heavy index was down 2.6% at intraday session low.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 climbed 2% to end at 3,841.94. In the intraday trading, the broad-market index fell 1% at intraday session low. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) surged 3.7%. Notably, all eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in positive territory.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 13.7% to 24.66. A total of 17.4 billion shares were traded on Friday, higher than the last 20-session average of 15.3 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.86-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.12-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Better-Than-Expected Jobs Data
The Department of Labor reported that nonfarm payroll additions in February jumped to 379,000 compared with the consensus estimate of 193,000. January's job additions were revised upward from 49,000 to 166,000 while December's data was revised downward from a loss of 277,000 to a loss of 306,000. However, 8.5 million fewer U.S. citizens holds job in February year over year.
The leisure and hospitality sector added 355,000 jobs including 286,000 in bars and restaurants, 36,000 in hotel-related jobs and 33,000 in recreation businesses. Professional/businesses, education & health, retail trade, manufacturing, transportation/warehousing and wholesale added 63,000, 44,000, 41,100, 21,000, 4,400 and 3,600 jobs, respectively. On the other hand, government, construction, mining/logging, financials, information and utilities lost 86,000, 61,000, 8,000, 5,000, 3,000 and 0.400 jobs, respectively.
The unemployment rate in February fell to 6.2% from 6.3% in January. The consensus estimate was 6.4%. However, the real unemployment rate (including discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons) remained unchanged at 11.1%. Although, the size of the labor force increased by 50,000, the labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 61.4%, down 1.9% year over year.
Average hours of work per week was 34.6 in February compared with 34.9 in January. The average wage rate grew by 0.2% compared with a downwardly revised 0.1% in the previous month. The consensus estimate was an increase of 0.2%.
Weekly Roundup
Last week was a mixed one for Wall Street. The Dow and the S&P 500 gained 1.8% and 0.8%, respectively. Nationwide deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, significant reduction in new coronavirus cases and expectations for a large fiscal stimulus shifted investor's preferences toward cyclical stocks.
However, the yield on the benchmark10-year U.S. Treasury Note remained elevated throughout the week. On Friday it hit a new one-year high of 1.626% finally settling at 1.553%. Higher market interest rate is detrimental to growth-oriented companies like technology that depends on easy access to credit at cheap rate. Consequently, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.1%.
Zacks Names “Single Best Pick to Double”
From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
You know this company from its past glory days, but few would expect that it’s poised for a monster turnaround. Fresh from a successful repositioning and flush with A-list celeb endorsements, it could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in a little more than 9 months and Nvidia which boomed +175.9% in one year.
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Stock Market News for Mar 8, 2021
Wall Street closed sharply higher on Friday after a choppy session following better-than-expected jobs data for February. All the three major stock indexes ended in green. For the week as a whole, the Dow and the S&P 500 ended in positive territory while the Nasdaq Composite finished in red.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rallied 1.9% or 572.16 points to close at 31,496.30. The index dropped 150 points at intraday session low. Notably, 28 components of the 30-stock index ended in the green while 2 in red and. Major gainer of the Dow was Chevron Corp. (CVX - Free Report) with a gain of 4.3%. Chevron carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Nasdaq Composite finished at 12,920.15, surging 1.6% or 196.68 points due to strong performance by large-cap tech stocks. The teach-heavy index was down 2.6% at intraday session low.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 climbed 2% to end at 3,841.94. In the intraday trading, the broad-market index fell 1% at intraday session low. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) surged 3.7%. Notably, all eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in positive territory.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 13.7% to 24.66. A total of 17.4 billion shares were traded on Friday, higher than the last 20-session average of 15.3 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 2.86-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.12-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Better-Than-Expected Jobs Data
The Department of Labor reported that nonfarm payroll additions in February jumped to 379,000 compared with the consensus estimate of 193,000. January's job additions were revised upward from 49,000 to 166,000 while December's data was revised downward from a loss of 277,000 to a loss of 306,000. However, 8.5 million fewer U.S. citizens holds job in February year over year.
The leisure and hospitality sector added 355,000 jobs including 286,000 in bars and restaurants, 36,000 in hotel-related jobs and 33,000 in recreation businesses. Professional/businesses, education & health, retail trade, manufacturing, transportation/warehousing and wholesale added 63,000, 44,000, 41,100, 21,000, 4,400 and 3,600 jobs, respectively. On the other hand, government, construction, mining/logging, financials, information and utilities lost 86,000, 61,000, 8,000, 5,000, 3,000 and 0.400 jobs, respectively.
The unemployment rate in February fell to 6.2% from 6.3% in January. The consensus estimate was 6.4%. However, the real unemployment rate (including discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons) remained unchanged at 11.1%. Although, the size of the labor force increased by 50,000, the labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 61.4%, down 1.9% year over year.
Average hours of work per week was 34.6 in February compared with 34.9 in January. The average wage rate grew by 0.2% compared with a downwardly revised 0.1% in the previous month. The consensus estimate was an increase of 0.2%.
Weekly Roundup
Last week was a mixed one for Wall Street. The Dow and the S&P 500 gained 1.8% and 0.8%, respectively. Nationwide deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, significant reduction in new coronavirus cases and expectations for a large fiscal stimulus shifted investor's preferences toward cyclical stocks.
However, the yield on the benchmark10-year U.S. Treasury Note remained elevated throughout the week. On Friday it hit a new one-year high of 1.626% finally settling at 1.553%. Higher market interest rate is detrimental to growth-oriented companies like technology that depends on easy access to credit at cheap rate. Consequently, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.1%.
Zacks Names “Single Best Pick to Double”
From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.
You know this company from its past glory days, but few would expect that it’s poised for a monster turnaround. Fresh from a successful repositioning and flush with A-list celeb endorsements, it could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in a little more than 9 months and Nvidia which boomed +175.9% in one year.
Free: See Our Top Stock and 4 Runners Up >>