- US stocks rose Friday, but all three of the major indices are headed for weekly losses.
- Earlier data showing an unexpectedly tight labor market raised fears of another rate hike.
- Dovish comments from New York Fed President John Williams helped ease some concerns.
US stocks rose Friday, though all three of the major indices are headed for weekly losses after earlier data pointed to an unexpectedly tight labor market.
So far for the week, the Nasdaq is down 2%, the S&P 500 is 1.4% lower, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 1%.
On Thursday, weekly jobless claims dropped to 216,000 from 228,000, against expectations of a rise. Added to that, unit labor cost growth in the second quarter was revised to 2.2%, up from an earlier 1.6% reading.
While this could keep the Federal Reserve's higher-for-longer interest regime in place, dovish comments from New York Fed President John Williams helped settle market concern.
"Things are moving in the right direction and we've got policy in a good place, but we're going to need to continue to be data dependent, watch developments and assess what we need to do," he said.
Here's where US indexes stood at the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Friday:
- S&P 500: 4,458.29, up 0.16%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,521.68, up 0.06% (20.95 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 13,812.13, up 0.46%
Here's what else is going on:
- Apple is the biggest stock shorted by hedge fund investor Dan Niles, amid the Chinese iPhone crackdown.
- New Era Cap raised $775 in financing ahead of a possible IPO.
- The SEC is investigating Ryan Cohen's purchase and sudden sale of Bed Bath & Beyond shares.
- Russia's three largest container ports reached their highest level of activity since the Ukraine war.
- Mohamed El-Erian says that an interest rate hike could still happen as oil prices increase.
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- Oil prices rose. West Texas Intermediate climbed 0.65% to $87.58 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 0.69% to $90.70 a barrel.
- Gold fell 1.1% t0 $1,922 per ounce.
- The 10-year Treasury yield edged 2 basis points lower to 4.242%.
- Bitcoin was essentially flat at $25,868.