(CercleFinance.com) – The New York Stock Exchange is heading towards a hesitant opening Friday morning following the publication of a monthly employment report testifying to the dynamism of the labor market, an element which could dissuade the Federal Reserve from reducing interest rates too early.
Half an hour before the opening, the ‘futures’ contract on the Dow Jones index lost 0.2%, while that on the Nasdaq 100 rose by 0.5%, announcing an uncertain start to the session.
The Labor Department reported 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 as high as the forecasts of economists, who expected on average 180,000 job creations last month.
In its briefing note, Washington said job creation was highest in the business services, health care, retail and social assistance sectors.
Futures contracts on the New York indices, which were all up before the publication of these figures, erased a large part of their gains, even tipping into the red, upon reading these figures.
‘Investors continue to be caught off guard by economic data that continues to surprise on the upside, making the scenario of a rate cut much less obvious,’ says Neal Keane, head of trading at ADSS.
According to the real-time FedWatch barometer, investors now only estimate the probability of a 25 basis point easing of rates next month at only 19.5%, compared to 70% almost a year ago. month.
On the bond market, the yield on ten-year Treasuries, which had fallen to a nearly one-month low yesterday, regained 12 basis points to get closer to the symbolic bar of 4%.
On the values side, market players are struggling to find direction after the contrasting quarterly publications unveiled yesterday evening by several technological giants.
Apple lost nearly 4% in pre-stock market quotations in the wake of results marked by the return to growth of the Apple firm, but also characterized by a slowdown in its sales in China.
Amazon is expected to increase by 6%, the online commerce giant having benefited from the success of the ‘Black Friday’ promotional day and the solidity of its sales during the Christmas period.
The most spectacular reaction, however, came from Meta Platforms, which jumped more than 16% in pre-opening after better-than-expected quarterly accounts and the announcement of the payment of its first dividend.
The market capitalization of the social media group should therefore appreciate by around 170 billion dollars upon opening.
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