The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher on Friday (November 4) in response to the release of the US nonfarm payrolls report, comments from Federal Reserve officials on the outlook for interest rates. including news about the opening of China
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 32,403.22, up 401.97, or +1.26%, the S&P 500 closed at 3,770.55, up 50.66, or +1.36%, and the Nasdaq closed at 10,475.26, up 1,2,3% or + 1.
But this week the Dow was down 1.39 percent after a four-week gain, the S&P500 was down 3.34% and the Nasdaq was down 5.65%, its biggest weekly percentage drop since January.
The New York Stock Exchange rose after the release of US employment data indicating that the unemployment rate increased in October. This shows signs of a slowdown in the labor market. And it may allow the Fed to cut interest rates in December.
The US Labor Department said non-farm payrolls increased by 261,000 in October. That was above analysts’ estimates of 200,000, but slowed from 315,000 in September. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7 per cent from 3.5 per cent in September.
The market also gained momentum after the Chairman of the Chicago Fed, Charles Evans: There is a possibility that the Fed will consider stopping increases in interest rates in the future.
Investors were predicting that the Fed will raise interest rates to just 0.50% at its monetary policy meeting in December. After the release of the non-farm payrolls report
CME Group’s FedWatch Tool indicates that investors have weighed in at around 62% that the Fed will raise interest rates by 0.50% at its December 13-14 meeting, after the previous session. Investors weighed just 51.5% ahead of the release of the employment figures.
In addition, the market was also driven by the news that China is considering loosening the COVID-19 control measures and may open the country in March 2023
Chinese economist Hao Hong The tweet states that Chinese authorities are forming a committee to consider opening up the country. and reviews data on COVID-19 abroad to assess the situation of whether the country is open China aims to ease regulations to control the COVID-19. In March 2023
Stocks of Chinese companies registered in the US On the back of the news, Alibaba shares closed down 7.05 per cent and JD.com jumped 9.74 per cent. The hopes also boosted the price of commodities such as copper and helped strengthen materials stocks , up 3.41 percent.
Singles that rose, such as Starbucks Corp, jumped 8.48 percent after it reported higher-than-expected quarterly sales and profit. And food delivery company Dordas jumped 8.32 per cent after it reported higher-than-expected revenue.
For next week investors will focus on the release of US inflation data. including the US mid-term elections on 8 November.
