(CNN)Stocks edged higher Friday after the government reported a lower-than-expected increase in jobs in November.
Investors appear to be betting that the weaker jobs gains will put more pressure on the outgoing Trump administration and Congress to approve more stimulus before Joe Biden is inaugurated next month.The Dow rose about 85 points, or 0.3%, shortly after the open Friday and was back above the 30,000 level. The S&P 500 also gained 0.3% while the Nasdaq, which closed at a new all-time high Thursday, was up 0.1%.
Friday’s jobs report, which showed that only 245,000 jobs were added last month compared to economists’ forecasts of 469,000 according to Refinitiv, is yet another stark reminder of just how much ground the economy needs to make up before it is back to pre-coronavirus levels.
Are you worried about expiring jobless benefits? Share your story.Although the unemployment rate dipped to 6.7% in November, it is still well above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5% from February. Read MoreThe number of people filing for weekly unemployment benefits remains stubbornly high. And federal benefits that were part of the CARES Act in March are set to expire at the end of the year.
The market was mixed Thursday in a volatile session of trading. Investors are seemingly buying (or selling) on any new headlines about progress for stimulus talks or the latest developments regarding the Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) as well Moderna (MRNA).But techs continue to lead the broader market higher. The Nasdaq has now surged nearly 40% this year — as investors flock to the so-called FAANGs (Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX) and Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL)) as well as Microsoft (MSFT) and Tesla (TSLA) due to their strong earnings growth.
Source: edition.cnn.com