We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience.
This includes personalizing content and advertising.
By pressing "Accept All" or closing out of this banner, you consent to the use of all cookies and similar technologies and the sharing of information they collect with third parties.
You can reject marketing cookies by pressing "Deny Optional," but we still use essential, performance, and functional cookies.
In addition, whether you "Accept All," Deny Optional," click the X or otherwise continue to use the site, you accept our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, revised from time to time.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
On this final trading day of the latest Jobs Week, a fresh Employment SituationReport has hit the tape from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the month of April. What we see is a headline +177K new jobs filled last month, above the +133K analysts had expected. The Unemployment Rate remained at +4.2%, as anticipated.
While this is a good headline number, with considerably more jobs than needed to make up a wide swath of new retirees (roughly 100K per month), we also see some downward revisions for the previous two months: March’s initial +228K reported a month ago have been revised down to +185K this morning. February’s BLS headline was originally +151K, but this has now come down to +117K.
Hourly Wages cooled a bit, to +0.2% from +0.3% expected and reported a month ago. To find a lower number for wage growth, we’d have to travel back to August of 2023. Year over year, Hourly Wages grew +3.8%, in-line with last month’s tally and down 10 basis points (bps) from estimates. The Average Workweek grew 10 bps to 34.3 hours in April. Labor Force Participation reached 62.6%, equaling the highs of September last year.
Federal agencies only shed -9K jobs last month; many of the DOGE layoffs throughout the past couple months included employment that came with severance packages. In other words, this figure is lower than may have been expected, but there’s a reason for it. Education & Health Services led the way by segment at +70K, followed by +29K in Transportation & Warehousing and +24K at Leisure & Hospitality.
In short, this is a very good report considering the vast amount of uncertainty regarding trade/tariff policy and new culture of job layoffs. The labor market — and the economy in general — continues to show resiliency, and pre-market indexes are showing their appreciation: the Dow is +425 points at this hour, the S&P 500 is +60 and the Nasdaq +215 points.
Q1 Earnings at a Glance: Big Oil & More
This morning, Q1 earnings season rolls along with three of the top Big Oil companies in the world reporting earnings. ExxonMobil (XOM - Free Report) posted a 4-cent beat to $1.76 per share while missing on its top line. Chevron (CVX - Free Report) posted a 3-cent beat to $2.18 per share while missing on revenue estimates by -2%. Shell (SHEL - Free Report) , on the other hand, posted a strong +19.5% earnings beat ahead of today’s open.
Wendy’s (WEN - Free Report) posted earnings of 20 cents per share this morning — exactly in-line with estimates. Revenues of $523.47 million in the quarter missed the Zacks consensus by a smidge. Shares had been trading down -23% year to date, but are up on this strong pre-market morning.
One of the strongest earnings reports out this morning comes from financial services provider Piper Sandler (PIPR - Free Report) , which posted a +69% positive earnings surprise to $4.09 per share, on revenues of $383 million which outperformed the Zacks consensus by +7.8%. Shares are up +3.8% on the news this morning, but are still down -15% year to date.
See More Zacks Research for These Tickers
Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:
Image: Bigstock
Hotter-Than-Expected Nonfarm Payrolls for April
On this final trading day of the latest Jobs Week, a fresh Employment Situation Report has hit the tape from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for the month of April. What we see is a headline +177K new jobs filled last month, above the +133K analysts had expected. The Unemployment Rate remained at +4.2%, as anticipated.
While this is a good headline number, with considerably more jobs than needed to make up a wide swath of new retirees (roughly 100K per month), we also see some downward revisions for the previous two months: March’s initial +228K reported a month ago have been revised down to +185K this morning. February’s BLS headline was originally +151K, but this has now come down to +117K.
Hourly Wages cooled a bit, to +0.2% from +0.3% expected and reported a month ago. To find a lower number for wage growth, we’d have to travel back to August of 2023. Year over year, Hourly Wages grew +3.8%, in-line with last month’s tally and down 10 basis points (bps) from estimates. The Average Workweek grew 10 bps to 34.3 hours in April. Labor Force Participation reached 62.6%, equaling the highs of September last year.
Federal agencies only shed -9K jobs last month; many of the DOGE layoffs throughout the past couple months included employment that came with severance packages. In other words, this figure is lower than may have been expected, but there’s a reason for it. Education & Health Services led the way by segment at +70K, followed by +29K in Transportation & Warehousing and +24K at Leisure & Hospitality.
In short, this is a very good report considering the vast amount of uncertainty regarding trade/tariff policy and new culture of job layoffs. The labor market — and the economy in general — continues to show resiliency, and pre-market indexes are showing their appreciation: the Dow is +425 points at this hour, the S&P 500 is +60 and the Nasdaq +215 points.
Q1 Earnings at a Glance: Big Oil & More
This morning, Q1 earnings season rolls along with three of the top Big Oil companies in the world reporting earnings. ExxonMobil (XOM - Free Report) posted a 4-cent beat to $1.76 per share while missing on its top line. Chevron (CVX - Free Report) posted a 3-cent beat to $2.18 per share while missing on revenue estimates by -2%. Shell (SHEL - Free Report) , on the other hand, posted a strong +19.5% earnings beat ahead of today’s open.
Wendy’s (WEN - Free Report) posted earnings of 20 cents per share this morning — exactly in-line with estimates. Revenues of $523.47 million in the quarter missed the Zacks consensus by a smidge. Shares had been trading down -23% year to date, but are up on this strong pre-market morning.
One of the strongest earnings reports out this morning comes from financial services provider Piper Sandler (PIPR - Free Report) , which posted a +69% positive earnings surprise to $4.09 per share, on revenues of $383 million which outperformed the Zacks consensus by +7.8%. Shares are up +3.8% on the news this morning, but are still down -15% year to date.