Stock market today: Dow slips as slowing job growth fails to dent July hike bets
Investing.com — The Dow notched a weekly loss after closing lower Friday as traders weighed a weaker monthly jobs report for June that missed estimates for the first time in 15 months against expectations that the Federal Reserve still remains likely to resume rate hike later this month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.55%, or 187 points, the Nasdaq fell 0.13%, and the S&P 500 fell 0.3%.
The economy created 209,000 jobs in June, missing the 225,000 expected and a marked decrease from the 306,000 in the prior month. That marked the weakest pace of job creation since December 2020.
But average hourly earnings, or wage growth, rose 4.4% last month, topping estimates of 4.2%
While expectations for a July hike remained baked in, investors are betting that the cooling in the labor market would be enough to keep the Fed from hiking again after July.
“Today’s report supports our view that the incoming data will not meet the bar for the Fed to deliver a hike in September,” Morgan Stanley said in a note.
The 2-year Treasury yield fell below 5%, but the 10-year yield held onto gains.
Energy stocks were back in the driving seat, leading the broader market higher as expectations that a less hawkish Fed eased worries about a recession and the oil demand outlook.
Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG), and Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) were among the biggest gainers with the latter up more than 8%.
Defensive concerns of the market including consumer staples and utilities were the biggest losers on the day, with latter dragged lower by Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) and Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST).
Costco reported Thursday that comparable sales for June fell by 1.4%.
Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) fell more
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