Stocks - Wall Street Opens Little Changed After Jobs Report
Published Dec 07, 2018 09:32AM ET
Investing.com - Wall Street struggled to find direction Friday. A lower-than-expected jobs report raised some concerns about the economy, but also took the pressure off the Federal Reserve to increase rates at a higher pace in 2019.
The S&P 500 fell 4 points, or 0.16%, as of 9:30 AM ET (14:30 GMT), while the Dow decreased 59 points, or 0.24%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 22 points, or 0.31%.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 155,000 in November, which was lower than expected but still consistent with a strengthening job market. The data puts less pressure on the Fed to raise rates.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the Fed is likely to consider a wait-and-see approach after hiking rates at its next meeting in December and does not know when its next rate hike will be.
Chances of a rate hike in December were priced in at 77.5%, according Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Cronos Group was among the top gainers after the opening bell, jumping 26% after Altria (NYSE:MO) announced it was investing $1.8 billion in the medical marijuana company for 45% ownership, with the potential to increase its stake to 55% over the next four years. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 3.5% after news that the luxury car maker plans to use a stock and cash mix to pay off its debt due in March.
Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) gained 2%, while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) inched up 0.13% and Boeing (NYSE:BA) was up 0.6%.
Elsewhere, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 0.4%, while semiconductor company Micron (NASDAQ:MU) lost 1.7%, AMD dipped 3.7% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was down 1.5%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,250.20 a troy ounce and crude oil jumped 4% to $53.76 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, lost 0.18% to 96.59.
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Written By: Investing.com
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