U.S. stocks are ticking higher Friday following a mixed report on the U.S. job market. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% Friday and was on track to top its all-time high set earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 187 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.6%. Treasury yields were mixed .
— U.S. stocks are ticking higher Friday following a mixed report on the U.S. job market, one that may delay another cut to interest rates by the Federal Reserve but does not slam the door on it.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in morning trading and was on track to top its all-time high set earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 182 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.
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The quiet trading came after the U.S. Labor Department said employers hired fewer workers in total during December than economists expected, though the unemployment rate improved and was better than expected. It reinforced how the U.S. job market may be in a “ low-hire, low-fire” state.
The improvement in the unemployment rate was enough to get traders to ratchet back expectations for a cut to interest rates at the Fed’s next meeting, which is scheduled for later this month. Traders are now forecasting just a 5% chance of that, down from 11% a day before, according to data from CME Group.
But traders nevertheless still largely expect the Fed to cut rates at least twice this upcoming year.
