financetom
Market
financetom
/
Market
/
Stock market today: Wall Street bounces ahead of jobs report
News World Market Environment Technology Personal Finance Politics Retail Business Economy Cryptocurrency Forex Stocks Market Commodities
Stock market today: Wall Street bounces ahead of jobs report
May 5, 2023 9:51 AM

Wall Street climbed Friday ahead of new data on U.S. jobs after a rough week for banks that have been caught up in the Fed’s fight against inflation.

Share Market Live

NSE

Futures for the Dow Jones industrials rose 0.5% before the bell and the S&P 500 edged 0.7% higher.

Regional banks that saw huge declines in their share price Thursday are rebounding in premarket trading. PacWest Bancorp, whose shares lost half their value on Thursday, rose close to 20% before the bell Friday. Western Alliance Bancorp rose 13% in premarket after a 38% plunge Thursday.

The financial sector is the strongest component on the S&P 500 in early trading. Still, the S&P MidCap 400 Banks Index is down 14% for the week after the collapse of First Republic Bank on Monday.

Los Angeles-based PacWest Bancorp said it’s selling assets and has been approached by potential partners and investors.

Regulators seized First Republic and sold most of it to JPMorgan Chase and shares of financial institutions slid despite assurances from government and industry officials that the banking system is sound.

The U.S. government will report April employment numbers that are expected to show a slowdown in job growth. The red-hot jobs market is one of the reasons that the fed has ratcheted up interest rates in a bid to cool the economy and inflation.

“We estimate a slowdown in net job growth and tick up in the unemployment rate,” said Rubeela Farooqi of High Frequency Economics in a report.

Traders foresee at least a brief U.S. recession this year. They expect the Fed to start cutting rates in the second half of the year to prop up economic growth, though chair Jerome Powell said this week he doesn’t see cuts coming so early.

A report Thursday showed the number of U.S. workers filing for unemployment last week accelerated a bit more than expected.

The Fed indicated Wednesday it might be finished with rate hikes for now, but the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, on Thursday said, “we are not pausing.” The ECB announced another rate hike but by a smaller margin of one-quarter percentage point.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 index lost 0.7% as investors worried about the health of banks following three high-profile failures in the United States and one in Switzerland. The Dow dropped 0.9% and the Nasdaq fell 0.5%.

Investors want to know steps authorities might take to “limit further contagion risks,” Yeap Jun Rong of IG said in a report. “Any inaction over the weekend could translate to a more downbeat risk environment to start next week.”

Rate hikes by the Fed and other central banks in Europe and Asia have put pressure on banks by causing the market prices of bonds on their books to decline. Investors worry depositors might pull money out of lenders that are thought to be troubled, worsening their financial pressures.

On Wednesday, the Fed raised its key overnight rate to a range of 5% to 5.25% from close to zero early last year.

Helping to support stocks despite all the anxiety over banks and a possible recession has been a largely better-than-feared earnings reporting season.

Companies in the S&P 500 are still on track to report a second straight quarter of profit drops, but the results have mostly been better than expected.

At midday in Europe, the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.6%, the DAX in Frankfurt gained 0.9% and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.6%.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5% to 3,334.50 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.5% to 20,049.31. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 7,220.00.

India’s Sensex sank 0.8% to 61,261.70. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets declined.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose $2.15 to $70.71 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 4 cents on Thursday to $68.56. Brent crude, the price basis for international oil trading, added $2.08 to $74.58 per barrel in London. It advanced 17 cents the previous session to $72.50.

The dollar inched up to 134.25 yen from Thursday’s 134.14 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1010 from $1.1016.

Comments
Welcome to financetom comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Related Articles >
Volatility-linked funds dump US stocks, exacerbating selloff
Volatility-linked funds dump US stocks, exacerbating selloff
Aug 2, 2024
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A sharp drop in U.S. stocks is provoking selling from volatility-sensitive funds, exacerbating a selloff that has already brought the Nasdaq Composite into correction territory. Volatility control funds - systematic investment strategies that typically buy equities when markets are calm and sell when they grow turbulent - have gorged on stocks as indexes soared to record...
Nasdaq Tumbles 3%; US Economy Adds 114,000 Jobs In July
Nasdaq Tumbles 3%; US Economy Adds 114,000 Jobs In July
Aug 2, 2024
U.S. stocks traded lower midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dipping more than 500 points on Friday. The Dow traded down 2.26% to 39,435.67 while the NASDAQ fell 2.98% to 16,682.31. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 2.52% to 5,309.54. Leading and Lagging Sectors Real estate shares fell by just 0.5% on Friday. In trading on Thursday, consumer discretionary...
EMERGING MARKETS-EM FX leaps on hopes for dovish Fed; growth worries weigh on Latin America
EMERGING MARKETS-EM FX leaps on hopes for dovish Fed; growth worries weigh on Latin America
Aug 2, 2024
(Updated at 1520 GMT) * Bets rise on 50 bps Fed cut in September * Global stocks selloff amid growth worries, tech rout * Brazil industrial data stronger than expected * EM bond funds see outflows over past week: BofA By Lisa Pauline Mattackal Aug 2 (Reuters) - An index tracking global emerging market currencies leaped against a falling dollar...
TSX Tumbles 2.5% With Energy, Technology Stocks Leading Decline
TSX Tumbles 2.5% With Energy, Technology Stocks Leading Decline
Aug 2, 2024
12:10 PM EDT, 08/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is in a downward spiral at midday, shedding near 600 points, or 2.5% as fears of a looming recession mount. Energy and technology stocks are the biggest decliners, down 4.2% and 4%, respectively. Oil prices weakened for a second-straight session early on Friday on demand concerns and flight from...
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.financetom.com All Rights Reserved