2024-08-09 21:13:50
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Stocks on Wall Street eked out gains on Friday, nearly recouping losses suffered by investors in a turbulent week of trading that included some of the best and worst days for U.S. stocks in nearly two years.
On Friday, New York’s benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq both closed up 0.5%, leaving both little changed for the week.
The S&P 500 rose on Friday, up more than 4% from its low hit on Monday when a global sell-off sparked by weak U.S. jobs data a week ago turned into a broad-based rout.
While most large-cap stock markets have recovered much of Monday’s losses, indexes remain below levels seen before last week’s U.S. jobs report, which raised concerns for the first time about the health of the world’s largest economy and sparked a selling frenzy.
The S&P 500 needs to rise another 2% to get back to where it was before the sell-off began, while the Nasdaq Composite is still lagging by about 2.7%.
“We are not out of the woods yet,” said Beata Manthey, head of European equity research at Citigroup.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell faster than expected on Thursday, spurring a recovery over the past two days.
Investors on Friday also began turning their attention to a pair of July reports due next week, saying growing concerns about the strength of the U.S. consumer meant Thursday’s retail sales data could provide more guidance to markets in the short term than Wednesday’s inflation report.
“The main concern for financial markets remains the risk of a sharp tightening of financial conditions leading to layoffs in the private sector,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY.
European stocks rose, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.6% to close slightly above last week’s close. France’s Cac 40 rose 0.3%, Germany’s Dax rose 0.2% and the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.
Earlier, Asian stocks rebounded, with Japan’s Topix closing up 1%, while South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.2%.
Markets were relatively calm on Friday after data showed the number of new U.S. jobless claims, seen as an indicator of layoffs, fell to its lowest level in a month.
Data released Thursday showed that initial claims for unemployment benefits totaled 233,000 in the week ended Aug. 3, seasonally adjusted, down from an upwardly revised 250,000 the previous week and below the 240,000 economists had forecast.
“Last week’s jobs report sent markets into a tailspin,” so “it makes sense that this week’s volatility in the labor market would calm markets,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco.
Japan was the first victim of Monday’s stock market sell-off, with the Topix falling 12% in a single trading day. The next day, the index rebounded, posting its biggest one-day gain since 2008 as investors decided the decline was too far. On Friday, the Topix was 3% lower than its close a week ago.
“Volatility remains high, so we may continue to see market volatility. [in Japan]Naoya Fuji, equity strategist at Nomura, said he highlighted strong corporate earnings, share buybacks and better corporate governance as helping Japanese markets recover from Monday’s shock sell-off.
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