(New York) Wall Street opened higher on Friday, rather satisfied with the American employment report, which shows an economy that is still vigorous, but inflation still in a deceleration phase.
Around 9:55 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones gained 0.31%, the NASDAQ index gained 0.63% and the broader S&P 500 index rose 0.42%.
The S&P 500 was heading for a new closing record, the second in a row, as was the NASDAQ.
The market reacted in two stages to the figures published Friday by the Ministry of Labor.
He first gasped at the sight of the 275,000 job creations in February, significantly more than the 200,000 expected by economists.
Index futures briefly fell into the red and bond yields rose.
But after a few minutes, the trend reversed.
“There is more good news than bad,” commented Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management on the report, the February figure being put into perspective by the revision of that of January down by 124,000 positions.
Furthermore, investors welcomed the moderate increase (+0.1% over one month) in the average salary, lower than projections (+0.3%).
“The Fed (American central bank) will welcome these job creations, because they are accompanied by a moderation (of the increase) in wages,” reacted Rubeela Farroqi, of High Frequency Economics, in a note.
“I don’t think this changes expectations in terms of rate cuts, with a first reduction in June or July,” said Art Hogan.
“But the market is comfortable with the idea of seeing only two or three declines (this year) because the economy remains resilient rather than having six or seven” which would be made necessary by a very degraded economy, argued the analyst.
For Gina Bolvin, of Bolvin Wealth Managanement Group, the small jump in the unemployment rate, to 3.9% compared to 3.7% previously, reinforces the scenario of a first slash from the Fed in June.
Illustration of the serenity of the New York market, bond rates returned to the levels of the day before at the close. The yield on 10-year US government bonds was thus unchanged, at 4.08%.
On the stock market, Nvidia continued its irresistible rise (+3.00%). The title of the designer of highly prized chips in the generative artificial intelligence (AI) sector has almost doubled in value since the start of the year (+92%).
He now has Apple in his sights, which is only about $200 billion more in capitalization than the Santa Clara (California) group.
But investors did not limit themselves to the obvious and set their sights on stocks that had been neglected until now, such as the biotech Gilead (+1.06%) and Biogen (+3.91%), the sports equipment manufacturer Lululemon ( +1.11%), the industrial conglomerate 3m (+1.84%) or the bank Goldman Sachs (+1.66%).
Elsewhere, on the stock market, the Eli Lilly laboratory (-2.33%) suffered from the postponement, by the American Medicines Agency (FDA), of its decision on the treatment Donanemab, against Alzheimer’s disease.
The forecasts, considered moderate, from the semiconductor specialist Broadcom diverted investors from the stock (-2.92%).
The semi-wholesale chain Costco (-4.74%) paid a turnover lower than expected, even if sales increased, particularly outside the United States and online.
The ready-to-wear brand Gap jumped (+4.06%) after the publication of results better than expectations. Sales increased, including at low-cost clothing chain Old Navy, which had not seen growth in 15 months.
The car manufacturer Rivian continued to benefit from the presentation on Thursday of two new electric vehicles, called R2 and R3, the first being announced for 2026 at a price significantly lower than the R1 model currently available.