Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

S&P 500 Starts Q2 With Win as Dip-Buyers Emerge After March Jobs Miss

Published 04/01/2022, 03:40 PM
Updated 04/01/2022, 04:27 PM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 kicked off the second quarter with a win Friday, shrugging off a fresh warning from the bond market of a looming recession as softer job gains in March aren't expected to knock the Federal Reserve off its path to aggressively tightening monetary policy. 

The S&P 500 rose 0.34%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.40%, or 139 points, the Nasdaq added 0.29%, and the US Small Cap 2000 jumped 1%.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 431,000 in February, below consensus expectations for 490,000 new jobs, while the unemployment rate fell by more than expected to 3.6%.

The job gains for February were revised higher to 750,000 from 678,000, erasing concerns about the weakness seen in the prior month, and pointing to a labor market that is “showing strong momentum heading into Q2,” Jefferies said in a note.

Wage growth, which is expected to pick-up pace amid a tight labor market, was in-line with forecasts at 0.4%.

“With a solid jobs report and the Fed’s preferred inflation metric pushing to 6.4% as of March, there is little reason why the market should not expect a 50bps hike at the next May FOMC meeting,” Stifel said in a note.

As the bets of aggressive Fed action continue to be priced into markets, fears are growing that the Fed may slow growth by too much and tip the economy into recession.

The yield curve inverted again to deliver yet another warning sign that a recession could be on the horizon.  The yield on the 2-year Treasury bond (2.428%) jumped above the yield on the 10-year Treasury note (2.360%).

Bank stocks struggled to cut losses as an inverting yield curve depresses their margins on lending, and limits growth.

SVB Financial (NASDAQ:SIVB), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB), Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) were the biggest decliners in the sector.   

Tech was once again in the crosshairs as semiconductor stocks struggle to catch a break on Wall Street. Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) fell more than 3% after JPMorgan ditched the chipmaker from its Analyst Focus list.

In other news, GameStop (NYSE:GME) erased gains to trade 1% lower after the video game retailer said it would seek shareholder backing at its next shareholder meeting to split its stock.

Stocks suffered their worst quarter in two years in first quarter, as a downbeat January and February offset gains in March. But the recent melt-up in stocks will likely continue. “[T]his current equity weakness is a brief pause before extending the rally that began around March 16th,” Janney Montgomery Scott said.

Latest comments

Don't buy!! Just hold let the day traders, scalpers, and hedge funds fight it out...if you uy now you will get robbed.
hello
Recession is a couple years away. We are still in a recovery, but yes, higher interest rates will eventually stymie the economy.
They want you to believe there is a recession loomimg so you will.sell alomg with big firms.so they don't look like the bad guys FAKE JOURNALISM needs to end!!
Weak 1st day of a new quarter
Who are these mystery plunge protection buyers who always show up at the end of the day/week and erase all loses. They must print money or something...lol
Instutions keeping the VIX under 20. technically keeping the market up
 Sad
Fed algos pump
shrugging off is just denial of the inevitable reality we face over the next few years. Y'all ready to see a poor struggling world. Make it and break it economy
Another round of in-your-face FRAUD today, as the criminal "late day" manipulation leaves no doubt that the US Ponzi Scheme is the biggest investment JOKE in the world.
ha! good one!
American trifle big circusssss big junk this is America
biden is a bum.
Bs
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.