Yahoo Finance Stocks- Wall Street Flat Despite Better Than Expected Jobs Data
Investing.com – Wall Street was flat on Friday despite a higher than expected jobs report as markets were held back by trade war tensions between the U.S. and China.
The S&P 500 gained three points or 0.13% to 2,740.07 as of 9:38 AM ET (13:38 GMT) while the Dow composite decreased five points or 0.02% to 24,350.92 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was up over 21 points or 0.29% to 7,608.33.
Trade conflict between the two biggest economies in the world began in force on Friday, when U.S. tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods went into effect at 12:01 AM ET (04:01 GMT), with more tariffs expected in the coming weeks. China has also retaliated with tariffs on $34 billion of American goods, according to Xinhua news. Beijing had previously said it would impose tariffs on U.S. agricultural products, crude imports, and vehicle products.
On the data front, the U.S. added more jobs than expected in June, indicating a strengthening economy. However wage inflation rose less than expected. The increase in wages is being closely monitored by the Federal Reserve for evidence of diminishing slack in the labor market and upward pressure on inflation.
Top Ships Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) was among the top gainers after the morning bell, rising 18.89% while Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) increased 0.45% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 0.34%.
Elsewhere Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slumped 2.09% while Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) fell 1.08% and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) lost 0.61%.
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 30 points or 0.25% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 14 points or 0.28% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 25 points or 0.34%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost five points or 0.16% while Spain’s IBEX 35 dipped 17 points or 0.17%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.21% to $1,256.10 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.45% to $72.61 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slumped 0.41% to 93.74.
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