U.S. Stocks Move Mostly Higher As Jobs Data Eases Interest Rate Concerns

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Friday, largely offsetting the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages have all moved back to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a standout gain.

Currently, the major averages are off their highs of the session but still in positive territory. The Nasdaq is up 290.73 points or 1.1 percent at 26,639.08, the S&P 500 is up 43.52 points or 0.6 percent at 7,753.48 and the Dow is up 139.50 points or 0.3 percent at 54,024.60.

The strength on Wall Street comes amid easing concerns about the outlook for interest after the Labor Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest decrease in U.S. employment in the month of July.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment fell by 23,000 jobs in July after rising by a downwardly revised 20,000 jobs in June.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 88,000 jobs compared to the addition of 57,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

While the report points to some weakness in the labor market, the data is also seen as decreasing the chances of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates next month.

According to CME Group's FedWatch tool, the chances the Fed will raise rates by a quarter point next month have tumbled to 44 percent from 55 percent on Thursday and 67 percent a week ago.

"Before today, many were expecting that the Fed had no choice but to raise rates in order to fight stubbornly high inflation, because the job market was so strong, but this report shows that isn't the case," said Chris Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Northlight Asset Management.

He added, "Next week's CPI release will be important - and if the data continues to come in higher than expected, it could raise the probability of a rate hike at the Fed's next meeting - but today's jobs numbers should be enough to keep the Fed on hold for at least another meeting, which all things being equal is a positive for the stock market."

Meanwhile, the report also said the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1 percent in July from 4.2 percent in June. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged.

Sector News

Gold stocks are moving sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 6.8 percent to its best intraday level in well over a month.

Considerable strength is also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Biotechnology stocks have also shown a strong move to the upside, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index jumped by 2.3 percent.

Software, semiconductor and housing stocks are also seeing significant strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Friday. South Korea's Kospi slid by 0.6 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have given back ground after an early rally but remain positive. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.3 basis points at 4.647 percent.