US open: Dow higher as investors digest NFP data

dl wall street st new york city nyc nyse stock exchange ny dow jones nasdaq sp finance us usa united states of america — Wall StreetSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were in the green at the open on Friday as investors digested key labour market data later.

As of 1550 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.30% at 37,551.26, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.59% to 4,715.64 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.62% firmer at 14,600.37.

The Dow opened 110.92 points higher on Friday building on the previous session's modest gains.

Despite the early gains, major indices were all still firmly on track to snap a nine-week winning streak early on Friday, with a cooling off of large-cap tech stocks and fears that optimism surrounding interest rate cuts may be overdone both weighing on the market.

At the open, the yield on the benchmark ten-year US Treasury note was down almost four basis points at 3.961%, below the psychologically important 4% barrier, while its two-year counterpart was more than five basis points at 4.329%.

On the macro front, the US economy added 216,000 jobs in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from November's downwardly revised print of 173,000 and well ahead of market forecasts for a reading of 170,000. Non-farm payrolls were of particular importance early on Friday, given that the report was closely watched by the Federal Reserve and helps guide its thinking on its interest rate policy going forward.

Elsewhere, the Institute for Supply Management's services PMI unexpectedly fell to 50.6 in December, the lowest reading seen in seven months, down from both 52.7 in November and expectations for a reading of 52.6. New orders slowed sharply, down from 55.5 to 52.8, while both employment and inventories also contracted. On the other hand, production growth accelerated to 56.6 from 55.1, and price pressures eased from 57.4 to 58.3.

On another note, US factory orders climbed 2.6% in November, according to the Census Bureau, beating market forecasts for growth of 2.1% for the biggest monthly gain since January 2021.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

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