Stock market rises at open after jobs data released, but Amazon dips
Stock market rises at open after jobs data released, but Amazon dips
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MicroStrategy Buys More Bitcoin, Joining Nasdaq 100
MicroStrategy Inc.,the dot-com-era software maker turned leveraged Bitcoin proxy, will be included in the Nasdaq 100 Index. The company also bought an additional $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency through the sale of stock. It was the sixth consecutive Monday that the firm announced acquisitions of the digital asset. Bloomberg News' Isabelle Lee speaks with Scarlet Fu on "Bloomberg Markets."
Bloomberg
U.S. stocks rise at the open, after the key monthly jobs report showed the labor market remained healthy, giving the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates steady and wait to see how President Donald Trump's tariff talk plays out.
In January, 143,000 new jobs were created, less than the Dow Jones average of economists of 169,000. However, the prior two months were revised up by a whopping 100,000, depicting an even more robust picture of the labor market at the end of 2024. December, alone, was revised up to 307,000 from 256,000, making that number the biggest in almost two years.
The jobless rate fell to an eight-month low of 4.0% in January, better than forecasts for the rate to hold at December's 4.1%. Over the last 12 months, average hourly earnings rose to 4.1%, outpacing overall inflation near 3% and economists' average forecast for 3.7%, according to Dow Jones.
"This simply gives the Fed little reason to cut policy rates immediately," said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. "More importantly, as the Trump administration's policies have the potential to significantly impact both the labor market picture and the inflation outlook, there is every reason to keep rates on hold for now."
Stephen Brown, deputy chief North America economist at research firm Capital Economics went as far as to say he thinks the Fed will stay sidelined all year.
Around 9:50 AM ET, the broad S&P 500 index was up 0.22%, or 13.57 points, at 6,097.14; the blue-chip Dow rose 0.07%, or 31.34 points, to 44,778.97; and the tech-laden Nasdaq edged up 0.25%, or 48.81 points, to 19,840.80.
The benchmark 10-year yield inched up to 4.489%. Yields rose on worries over the unexpected rise in average hourly earnings, analysts said. "This impedes further downward progress on the inflation readings, particularly for services inflation," said Kathy Bostjancic, Nationwide chief economist.
Amazon earnings and artificial intelligence plans
Amazon said after the close on Thursday its earnings in the last few months of the year topped estimates, but its revenue growth outlook fell below analysts' forecasts. Its prediction for 5% to 9% in the first three months of this year would mark the weakest growth on record for the online retail giant.
Amazon shares dropped 2.69%.
The ecommerce giant also said it plans to allocate a record amount of spending this year for AI. This would be good news for companies like Nvidia, whose products power AI. Semconductor company Nvidia's shares are fractionally higher.
Corporate news
Loan provider Affirm's quarterly revenue beat expectations and total value of transactions on its platform topped $10 billion for the first time. Shares soared more than 22%.
Pinterest said monthly active users reached an all-time high. The sharing platform also predicted revenue in the current three-month period to beat analysts' expectations. Its shares jumped almost 19%.
Makeup company E.l.f. Beauty cut its annual sales guidance. Shares slid 24%.
Take-Two reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and said "Grand Theft Auto VI," due in the fall, will boost its financials this year. Shares of the videogame developer rallied 12.64%.
Bill's quarterly sales outlook was below analysts' forecasts, which plunged the billing-software company's shares by 34.67%.
Tesla car sales in China fell 11.5% last month. The EV giant's shares are fractionally higher.
Microchip Technology shares fell 3% after the semiconductor company forecast sales and profit in the last three months of last year would fall below analysts' estimates.
Fortinet advanced almost 2% after the cybersecurity company said it expects its full-year revenue to top analysts' expectations.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin prices rose but continued to languish below the key psychological $100,000 threshold.
The cryptocurrency rose in line with stocks after the strong January jobs report lowered the chances for a Fed rate cut at the Fed's next policy meeting in March. The CME FedWatch tool shows 91.5% odds for no rate move.
Bitcoin was last up 2.04% at $98,625.07.
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.
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