US open: Stocks go green following jobs report, Fed's Powell in focus
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Friday 04 Oct 2019
(Sharecast News) - Stocks opened higher on Friday despite a mixed jobs report, with the Dow Jones Industrials cutting into the heavy losses recorded earlier in the week as investors waited on a key speech by Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell .
As of 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.70% at 26,384.59, while the S&P 500 was ahead 0.71% at 2,931.27 and the Nasdaq Composite started out the session 0.73% firmer at 7,929.89.
The Dow opened 183.55 points higher on Friday, following on from a solid performance in the previous session as a result of market participants beginning to bet on the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its meeting later in the month following a recent string of dismal data.
While sentiment took another beating on Thursday after a weak ISM services reading triggered another bout of volatility in financial markets and briefly knocked the Dow Industrials below its 200-day moving average, news that US non-farm payrolls rose more or less as expected last month helped investors breathe a sigh of relief in regards to the state of the US economy, even if only for a moment.
According to the Department of Labor, hiring increased by 136,000 in September and non-farm payroll gains for the prior two months were revised higher by a combined 45,000. Economists had forecast a reading of 140,000 for September.
The monthly unemployment rate of 3.5% was the gauge's lowest reading in half a century.
Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson said: "This is as good as it's likely to get until the trade war is resolved. Leading indicators, which warned clearly of the slowdown in job growth over the past few months, now point clearly to the trend slowing to just 50K or so by the end of the year."
Elsewhere on the data front, the US trade deficit in goods and services rose roughly $1.0bn in August, according to the Department of Commerce, as weakening foreign demand and the ongoing trade spat with China took a bite out of US exports.
The US trade balance grew 1.6% to $54.9bn for the month, higher than expected on the Street, as imports increased 0.5% and exports rose 0.2%.
Still to come, Fed chairman Jerome Powell is expected to make policy-relevant comments at the Fed Listens event at 1900 BST.
In corporate news, Apple shares were trading higher at the open after the tech giant asked its suppliers to up production of its iPhone 11 by 10%.
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