Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on the first trading day of 2024, January 2, 2024 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Stocks edged lower Friday, giving back some of the big gains seen in the previous session, but remained on track for solid weekly advances.
THE Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 56 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 fell by 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 0.2%.
Stocks jumped during regular trading on Thursday, with S&P 500 up 1.7% to close above the 5,700 level for the first time. Dow ended the day up more than 500 points, posting its first close above 42,000. Both indices also recorded all-time highs during the day. Nasdaq Composite Index grew by 2.5%.
The unemployment figures, along with the Fed’s half-point rate cut on Wednesday, appear to have bolstered investor sentiment. Jobless claims, which came in at 219,000 for the week ended September 14, were below expectations and down from the previous week.
“The first economic data since the massive rate cut should satisfy the Federal Reserve,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of E-Trade trading and investments at Morgan Stanley. “Weaker-than-expected jobless claims won’t raise immediate concerns that the labor market is slowing too much.”
The Fed’s decision on Wednesday marked the first rate cut since 2020.
All three major stocks are on track for weekly gains, with the S&P 500 up nearly 1.6% through Thursday’s close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1.5% for the week, while the Nasdaq is outperforming with a 1.9% gain.
In business news, shipping giant FedEx fell more than 13% after the company cut the upper end of its full-year profit forecast and trimmed its revenue forecast. Nike jumped 7.5% after announcing that CEO John Donahoe would step down on Oct. 13.
