Wall Street rises on first day of fourth quarter
Major equity indexes in the U.S. closed the first trading day of September with gains as today's data strengthened the expectations of the Fed refraining from making another rate hike before the end of the year.
Nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. increased by 156K on a monthly basis in August and the July data got revised down to 189K from 209K while the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3%. The CME Group FedWatch Tool's probability for a December rate hike moved lower to 36% after breaking below the 40% mark yesterday amid softer-than-expected PCE price index data from the U.S.
Commenting on the data, "the employment report was a little disappointing but not wildly different than what we’ve historically seen. There’s really nothing in the report that I think dissuades the market from a bullish bias," Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago, told Reuters.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 40 points, or 0.18%, to close at 21,987.56 after peaking above the 22K threshold during the session. The S&P 500 rose 4.25 points, or 0.17%, to 2,474.25 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 5.02 points, or 0.08%, to 6,433.68.
Headlines from the U.S. session:
- Dollar Index rebounds from 2-year lows and ends week higher
- WTI unresponsive to oil rig count data, remains above $47
- US Construction Spending falls in July - Wells Fargo
- Atlanta Fed: GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth in Q3 eases to 3.2%
- US ISM: August can be a head-fake - Wells Fargo
- NY Fed: GDP Nowcast stands at 2.2% for Q3 of 2017
- US August NFP consistent with economic growth - Wells Fargo
- US: Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 156,000 in August
- US: Manufacturing output expands at weakest pace since June 2016 - Markit
- US: Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in August - ISM
- US: Construction spending in July 2017 estimated at seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,211.5 billion
- US: Index of Consumer Sentiment eased to 96.8 in August - UoM