US close: Transport, financial issues lead gains amid mixed January jobs data

Wall Street staged a broad advance at the end of the week despite a mixed January jobs report, led by transport and financial stocks.

The latter were boosted by the new US president´s decision to sign an executive order setting the stage for a roll-back of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulations act.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.94% or 186.55 points to 20,071.46, the S&P 500 was up 0.73% or 16.57 points to 2,297.42 and the Nasdaq was 0.54% or 30.57 points higher to 5,666.77.

By sectors, the best performance was seen in Marine transportation (5.88%), Transportation services (3.33%), Consumer finance (2.82%), Investment services (2.57%) and Banks (2.57%).

The non-farm payrolls report showed that 227,000 new jobs were created in January, from 157,000 the previous month and above the consensus forecast of 180,000.

In parallel, the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 4.8%, albeit due to an increase in the labour force participation rate. However, growth in average hourly earnings disappointed in January, growing by just 0.1% month-on-month, placing the year-on-year gain lower at 2.5% against a rise of 2.8% in the month before.

US Treasury yields fell in the wake of the non-farm payrolls report with the yield on the 10-year note down 1 basis point to 2.47%. Meanwhile, the two-year note was down 1.2 basis points to 1.19%.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “The dollar took a bit of a nose dive in the wake of this afternoon’s employment report. While the headline numbers at 227,000 and the revisions were very positive, the wage growth numbers were abysmal, as the year on year number slumped from 2.9% to 2.5%.

“This lack of wage growth despite rising inflationary pressures would be unlikely to prompt any action on rates by the Federal Reserve, before June this year. That being said with rising inflationary pressures in the ISM numbers this week, there could be some on the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) who think that rising prices require some form of rate response irrespective of what wages do," he said.

Roiana Reid, associate economist at Berenberg, said: “This was a solid employment report and if the economic data remains robust, one would encourage the Fed to hike rates in March as it would give the committee more flexibility to achieve its goals of three rate hikes this year and reduce the chances that it will fall behind the curve.”

Banking stocks JP Morgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs rallied following a report that Donald Trump’s administration plans to sign an executive action to scale back the 2010 Dodd-Frank bank reform rules.

The KBW index of lender´s shares tacked on 2.24% to 93.13.

Across the pond, the Stoxx Europe 600 banks index gained 1.29%.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate closed up by 0.15% to $53.83.

In other corporate news, Clorox was up 4.1% after beating second quarter revenue expectations.

GoPro slumped 12.67% after its fourth-quarter revenue late on Thursday missed expectations, while Chipotle Mexican Grill nudged 4.52% lower after weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Amazon fell 3.54% after it reported disappointing fourth-quarter revenue late on Thursday.

Dow Jones - Risers

Visa Inc. (V) $86.08 4.59%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $240.95 4.57%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $87.18 3.06%
American Express Co. (AXP) $78.04 2.00%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $113.57 1.21%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $109.65 1.19%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $32.09 1.13%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $124.24 0.83%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $63.68 0.81%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $137.98 0.75%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $52.36 -0.83%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $93.28 -0.52%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $36.52 -0.44%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $87.41 -0.40%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $66.50 -0.30%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $110.30 -0.28%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $113.64 0.06%
General Electric Co. (GE) $29.70 0.07%
Boeing Co. (BA) $162.40 0.09%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $83.54 0.11%

S&P 500 - Risers

Macy's Inc. (M) $32.69 6.41%
Morgan Stanley (MS) $44.43 5.46%
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO) $17.06 5.11%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $167.53 4.98%
Visa Inc. (V) $86.08 4.59%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $240.95 4.57%
Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) $30.90 4.57%
Clorox Co. (CLX) $125.14 4.08%
Zions Bancorporation (ZION) $43.31 3.69%
Total System Services Inc. (TSS) $52.87 3.67%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) $18.98 -16.42%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $15.83 -5.83%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $404.08 -4.54%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $73.71 -4.02%
AutoNation Inc. (AN) $49.77 -3.86%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $810.20 -3.54%
PerkinElmer Inc. (PKI) $52.17 -3.12%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $33.78 -3.07%
VF Corp. (VFC) $49.56 -2.25%
Alcoa Corporation (AA) $36.86 -2.18%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $167.53 4.98%
Liberty Global Plc Lilac Class C (LILAK) $22.76 3.17%
Liberty Global Plc Lilac Class A (LILA) $23.54 2.79%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $28.41 2.34%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $76.70 2.33%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $46.29 2.25%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $55.06 2.21%
Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) $84.41 1.99%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $42.64 1.99%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $115.17 1.78%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $810.20 -3.54%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $81.28 -1.49%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $40.01 -1.14%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $126.98 -1.09%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $57.97 -0.99%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $114.38 -0.88%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $24.60 -0.77%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $76.69 -0.66%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $358.26 -0.64%
Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) $73.28 -0.58%