US open: Stocks trade higher despite NFP miss

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were in the green early on the first day of Q2 trading as investors thumbed over March's all-important nonfarm payrolls report.

As of 1515 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.16% at 34,732.81, while the S&P 500 was 0.18% firmer at 4,538.61 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.25% stronger at 14,255.63.

The Dow opened 54.46 points higher on Friday, reclaiming some of yesterday's losses after the US president confirmed plans to start daily releases from the country's strategic oil reserves.

In focus early on Friday was news that the UK will reportedly join the US in releasing more oil from its reserves as part of a joint effort to lower prices and reduce reliance on Russian supplies. According to Bloomberg, an announcement was likely to come before the end of the day via the International Energy Agency. However, sources declined to say the size of the release, citing market sensitivity and the need for countries to act in concert.

US president Joe Biden said on Thursday that his plans to release 1m barrels of oil a day for six months would lay the foundations for the US to achieve energy independence from foreign suppliers. He also said that he expects allies to release as many as 50m barrels from their own stocks.

Also drawing an amount of investor attention, the two-year and 10-year Treasury yields inverted for the first time since 2019, a potential sign that the US economy was headed for a recession. However, the inverted yield curve can not predict exactly when a recession will occur, with history indicating it could be over a year away.

On the macro front, the US economy added 431,000 payrolls in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from the previous month's print of 750,000 and falling short of market expectations for a print of 490,000. Job gains continued in leisure and hospitality, up 112,000, professional and business services, 102,000 higher, retail trade, 49,000 stronger, and food and beverage stores and manufacturing, up 18,000 and 38,000, respectively. Figures for February were revised sharply higher to show a 750,000 gain, up from 678,000, while the change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was also revised up by 23,000 to 504,000.

Elsewhere, the ISM's manufacturing PMI fell to 57.1 in March, down from 58.6 in February, well below market forecasts of 59 and pointing to the slowest growth in factory activity since September 2020.

Finally, construction spending in the US increased 0.5% month-on-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.70trn in February, cooling off from an upwardly revised 1.6% advance in January but below market expectations of a 1% gain.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Friday.

Dow Jones - Risers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $165.22 1.47%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $64.56 1.31%
Visa Inc. (V) $224.07 1.04%
American Express Co. (AXP) $188.91 1.02%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $184.17 0.79%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $224.52 0.76%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $301.12 0.60%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $62.35 0.56%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $512.64 0.52%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $248.32 0.42%