The market declined Friday, following a short but volatile week for stocks that saw the month of September start with a tech pullback. The S&P 500 fell below the historic 5,500 point mark Thursday, a level reached in June but broken at the start of August.
Just past 2:55 pm ET the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ fell 1.69%, the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ fell 0.95%, and the $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ fell 2.53%.
Friday, the economy added 142k nonfarm payrolls, and the Unemployment rate landed at 4.2% in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The market is watching for labor softness that could hurt stock prices but help the chances of an FOMC rate cut during the committee's upcoming September 17-18 meeting.
Speaking of the Fed, investors also got word from New York Fed President John Williams Friday that it is time to cut rates.
Speaking toward the Council on Foreign Relations, Williams said the economy is balanced, and inflation is tracking lower, so "it is now appropriate to dial down the degree of restrictiveness in the stance of policy by reducing the target range for the federal funds rate."
Thursday, initial jobless claims figures from the Department of Labor Statistics came in at 227K, below last week's 230k. ADP numbers for private payrolls added to the economy showed just 99k jobs added in the past month, far below the 140k expected and the lowest number from ADP since 2021.
Wednesday, the JOLTS job openings came in lower than expected at 7.6M vs 8M. It is the lowest hiring data for open positions since 2021. Tuesday, the S&P PMI and ISM PMI index numbers came out lower than estimated, with ISM at 47.2 vs 47.5 and S&P at 47.9 vs 48, compared to last month's 46.8 and 49.6, respectively.
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Yesterday, users were screaming and yelling about the election: things are heating up. When not arguing about which candidate is worse, users watched Oil demand and tech companies like fan favorite $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$.
Traders, what do you think, is the market in 2024 about following the herd? What you watching on the stock market today? What is the herd following? Let me know in the comments below!
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