All three major Wall Street stocks closed higher on Friday in the wake of strong data released earlier today for the US job market. It is noted that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recorded their seventh consecutive record, while all three indices also closed with a rise on a weekly basis.
The encouraging data announced today for employment lead to new records in all three indicators. The data showed that the US economy added another 531,000 jobs last month, following a revised September increase of 312,000 jobs from 194,000 initially.
Unemployment also fell to 4.6% in October from 4.8%, while the labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 61.6%.
It is noted that the average estimates of analysts in a Bloomberg poll spoke of 450,000 jobs with unemployment falling to 4.7%.
The rising rate of hiring shows that more Americans are returning to the job market as the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy has waned significantly and employers are offering higher wages. Hourly wages rose further in October and are now up 4.9% in the last 12 months, one of the largest increases in decades. Average hourly earnings rose 11 cents, or 0.4%, to $ 30.96.
Indicators – Statistics
In this climate, the industrial Dow Jones, recorded gains of 203.72 points or 0.56% and closed at 36,327.95 points, the widest S&P 500 added 17.47 points or 0.37% to 4,697.53 points. The technological Nasdaq increased by 31.3 points or 0.20% to 15,971.60 points.
On a weekly basis, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose 1.4%, 2% and 3.1% respectively.
Of the 30 shares of Dow Jones, 19 closed with an increase and the rest with a decrease. In particular, the shares of Boeing, Visa and Walt Disney led the gains with an increase of 5.37%, 3.78% and 3.14% respectively. On the other hand, the shares of Merck, Home Depot and Johnson & Johnson led the losses with a fall of 9.86%, 1.02% and 0.71% respectively.
On the “front” of the coronavirus, Pfizer announced that the pill it has developed against Covid-19 in combination with an anti-HIV drug reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in high-risk adults exposed to the virus.
The pharmaceutical company also announced that it expects to submit the findings to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency approval “as soon as possible”.
It is recalled that Merck announced last month that the experimental treatment she has developed reduces the risk of hospitalization or death by 50%, according to the results of the final stage test.
In business news, Uber Technologies Inc. announced yesterday that the revenues of the third quarter increased after the lifting of the restraining measures, with the losses, however, more than doubling.
Airbnb Inc. announced record revenue for the quarter. Strong profits and sales, but less than expected monthly users, Pinterest Inc. announced. Square Inc.’s revenue was lower than expected. for the last quarter, while GoPro Inc. announced results that exceeded forecasts.
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