(CercleFinance.com) – Wall Street is moving on a relatively cautious note on Friday following employment figures that are much better than expected, a new sign of the robustness of the American economy.
At the end of the morning, the Dow Jones fell 0.1% to 38,500.5 points while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1% to 15,538.9 points.
The Labor Department announced this morning that the US economy added 353,000 non-farm jobs in January, while the unemployment rate remained stable at 3.7%.
This figure is almost twice the forecasts of economists, who expected on average 180,000 job creations last month, which could dissuade the Fed from reducing its interest rates too soon.
‘It is very unlikely that the Fed will lower its rates in March’, react economists at Commerzbank. ‘We continue to expect a first monetary easing in May,’ adds the German bank.
According to the real-time FedWatch barometer, only 19.5% of investors anticipate a rate cut of 25 basis points next month, compared to 70% almost a month ago.
On the bond market, the yield on ten-year Treasuries, which had fallen to a nearly one-month low yesterday, is rising again to return above the symbolic 4% mark, to 4.02%.
On the values side, market players are struggling to find direction after the contrasting quarterly publications unveiled yesterday evening by several technological giants.
Apple fell by 0.7% in the wake of quarterly results marked by a return to growth in the Apple firm’s turnover, but also characterized by a slowdown in its sales in China.
Amazon climbs 7%, the online commerce giant’s accounts having benefited from the success of the ‘Black Friday’ promotional day and the strength of its sales during the Christmas period.
The most spectacular reaction, however, came from Meta Platforms, which jumped 21% after much better than expected quarterly performance and the announcement of its first dividend payment.
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