(CercleFinance.com) – The New York Stock Exchange ended the first week of the year with a bang, galvanized by a positive reading of the employment report: the Dow Jones climbed 2.1% to 33,631 points while the Nasdaq Composite advanced nearly 2.6% to 10,569 points.
According to the Labor Department, the US economy generated 223,000 non-farm payrolls in December 2022, a number slightly above market expectations, and the unemployment rate fell a further 0.1 points to set at 3.5%.
Above all, investors were able to retain the moderation in wage growth. On an annual basis, the increase in the average salary reached only 4.6% at the end of December, ie one percentage point less than its peak in March (+5.6%).
‘We see that wage pressures are easing a bit,’ commented Commerzbank. ‘This is good news for the Fed, which has recently focused on wage growth as the main driver behind inflation.’
The solid report eclipsed later lackluster data, with an ISM services index falling to 49.6 in December from 56.5 the previous month and a 1.8% drop in orders. to industry in November.
In stock news, Pfizer gained more than 2.5% as the U.S. FDA accepted a priority review request for its 20-valent pneumococcal (20vPnC) conjugate vaccine candidate in infants and the children.
Costco Wholesale rose 7.3% after the chain of warehouse stores announced a 7% increase in sales (+5.5% like-for-like) in its month of December, in annual comparison .
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