FYI: The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at new highs Friday after a strong October jobs report reassured investors about the pace of growth.
The U.S. economy added 128,000 jobs in October, topping expectations for 75,000 payrolls, Labor Department data showed. The figures suggest the job market remains robust, despite recent labor strikes at General Motors and the long-simmering trade war between the U.S. and China. The jobless rate ticked up to 3.6% last month from 3.5% in September.
The S&P rose 0.97%, poised to notch its third record close of the week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.13%, its first high since July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 301 points, or 0.1.11%. The blue chips are less than 0.3% away from their July highs.
All three indexes are up more than 1% for the week.
Three Fed rate cuts this year—the most recent on Wednesday—helped fuel the market’s rally by encouraging businesses to borrow more and driving investors out of low-yielding government bonds in favor of riskier assets. Friday’s report offers the Fed little impetus for a further rate cut at this time, many investors said.
Bond yields jumped as investors sold U.S. government debt, seen as a haven asset. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was recently at 1.733%, up from 1.694% Thursday. Yields move in the opposite direction from prices.
Many sectors of the U.S. economy continued to hire last month, the report showed. The health-care sector added 34,200 jobs in October, business services added 22,000, and hospitality—including restaurants—added 61,000.
The main weak point was manufacturing, where jobs decreased by 36,000. Within that sector, jobs making cars and auto parts fell by 42,000, “reflecting strike activity,” the Labor Department said.
Also Friday, a closely watched gauge of U.S. manufacturing activity came in weaker than expected for October. The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturers’ Purchasing Managers Index was 48.3 last month, below the 49.1 that had been forecast. Levels below 50 represent a contraction of activity. Weakening manufacturing data in recent weeks have sparked fears about a global slowdown.
In corporate news, shares of Fitbit surged 16% after the maker of wearable fitness devices said it had agreed to be acquired by Google parent Alphabet for $2.1 billion.
Newell Brands, the maker of Rubbermaid containers, Elmer’s glue and other consumer goods, rallied 8.7% after it raised its outlook for sales in 2019. Exxon Mobil gained 2.8%, despite reporting a decline in profit and revenue, after the oil giant’s quarterly earnings beat analysts’ expectations.
Overseas, the Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.7% on Friday. In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1% following the release of upbeat data on Chinese factory activity.
In commodities, U.S. crude oil futures rose $2.02, or 3.7%, to $56.20 a barrel after the jobs report fueled optimism about the economy.
Gold futures fell $3.40, or 0.2%, to $1508.00. The WSJ Dollar Index was down less than 0.1%.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-01/your-evening-briefingMarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-index-futures-point-higher-ahead-of-october-jobs-report-manufacturing-data-2019-11-01/printWSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-rise-ahead-of-jobs-report-11572600987Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-31/stocks-in-asia-to-drop-on-trade-war-economic-data-markets-wrap?srnd=premiumIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-up-russell-outperforms-4-reasons-why-bull-run-could-extend-november/CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/dow-futures-open-nonfarm-payrolls.htmlReuters:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/jobs-data-trade-progress-boost-sp-nasdaq-to-records-idUKKBN1XB3ZDU.K:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/miners-lead-ftse-rebound-lookers-sinks-on-profit-alert-idUKKBN1XB3PLEurope:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/european-shares-end-week-on-cheery-note-after-u-s-and-chinese-data-idUSKBN1XB3SDAsia:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/asia-markets-november-1-us-china-trade-war-caixin-manufacturing-pmi-nonfarm-payrolls.htmlBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/us-treasury-yields-october-jobs-report.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/forex-markets-us-economy-us-china-trade-war-in-focus.htmlOil
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/oil-markets-us-china-trade-war-us-oil-production-in-focus.htmlGold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/gold-markets-us-china-trade-in-focus.htmlWSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/usMajor ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitorSPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-trackerSPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectorsCurrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx 
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