- US stocks dropped on Friday as investors digested the May jobs report.
- A strong payroll report pushed out expectations of a Fed interest-rate cut later this year.
- “Today’s data undermines the message that other recent economic data have been giving of a cooling U.S. economy.”
US stocks ended Friday slightly lower but finished the week higher by more than 1% following a May jobs report that came in much hotter than expected.
Data showed 272,000 jobs were added to the economy last month, well ahead of economist estimates of about 180,000.
The report also saw the unemployment rate rise to 4.0% from 3.9%, suggesting some weakness in the labor market to offset the stronger-than-expected payroll figures.
Meanwhile, average hourly earnings rose to 4.1% from 3.9% annually, which revived some concern about inflation and pushed out the likelihood of a Fed interest rate cut to December from September.
According to the CME FedWatch Tool, there’s only a 47% chance of an interest rate cut in September, compared to a 55% chance before the jobs report was released.
“Today’s data undermines the message that other recent economic data have been giving of a cooling U.S. economy, and slams the door shut on a July rate cut,” said Seema Shah, Principal Asset’s chief global strategist. “We still expect the Fed to cut rates in September but another set of prints like today’s would likely also take that off the table.”
Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. closing bell on Friday:
Here’s what else happened today:
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 0.34% to $75.29 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was lower by 0.60% to $79.39 a barrel.
- Gold sold off 3.38% to $2,310.00 per ounce.
- The 10-year Treasury yield jumped 14 basis points to 4.43%.
- Bitcoin dropped 2.20% to $69,216.