Stock market today: Wall Street ticks toward more records after jobs report bolsters rate-cut hopes
U.S. stocks are ticking toward more records after a report on the job market bolstered hopes that interest rates will soon get easier
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are ticking toward more records Friday after a highly anticipated report on the job market bolstered Wall Street's hopes that interest rates will soon get easier.
The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in midday trading and on track to set an all-time high for a third straight day following Thursday's pause for the Fourth of July holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was essentially flat, as of 12:10 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.7% to its own record.
The action was more decisive in the bond market, where Treasury yields sank following the nuanced U.S. jobs report. Employers hired more workers last month than economists expected, but the number was still a slowdown from May’s hiring. Plus, the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked higher, and the U.S. government said hiring in earlier months was lower than it had previously indicated.
Altogether, the data reinforced belief on Wall Street that the U.S. economy’s growth is slowing under the weight of high interest rates. That’s precisely what investors want to see, because a slowdown would keep a lid on inflation and could push the Federal Reserve to begin cutting its main interest rate from the highest level in two decades.
The question is whether the Federal Reserve can time its next moves precisely, where it lowers rates early and significantly enough to keep the slowdown from sliding into a recession but not so much that it allows inflation to regain strength and take off again.
The clearest takeaway from the jobs report for financial markets was that it keeps the Fed on track to cut its main
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