Stocks were slightly lower at market close on Friday as the broader market turned negative on May's stronger-than-expected jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 85 points, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% lower and the Nasdaq Composite declined by 0.2%.
Here's how the market settled to close out the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.11% or -5.97 points to 5,346.99
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.22% or -87.18 points to 38,798.99
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.23% or -39.99 points to 17,133.13
Moving Markets:
The U.S. economy added much more jobs than expected in May, the Labor Department reported Friday, dashing hopes that a weakening job market would push the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates sometime this summer.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 272,000 for the month, up from April's print of 165,000 and ahead of analysts expectations for 190,000. Beneath the headline, the unemployment rate for to 4% for the first time since January 2022, topping expectations for the rate to remain unchanged at 3.9% in May.
"One step forward, two steps back. Today's data undermines the message that other recent economic data have been giving of a cooling U.S. economy, and slams the door shut on a July rate cut," said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, quoted by CNBC. "Not only has jobs growth exploded again, but wage growth has also surprised to the upside, both moving in the opposite direction to what the Fed needs to begin easing policy."
Despite the session weakness, all three market major averages ended the week in positive territory, with the S&P 500 advanced nearly 1% after posting a new intraday and closing highs this week. The Dow also added 0.23% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed with a gain of 1.6%.
GameStop:
GameStop (NYSE: GME) was dominating headlines on Friday after the video game retailer released its first-quarter earnings ahead of a highly anticipated live-stream from meme-stock leader Roaring Kitty on YouTube (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL). The release of its results was a surprise, as the company was scheduled to deliver its earnings next Tuesday after market close.
The company reported net sales of $881.8 million for its fiscal first-quarter, falling 29% from $1.237 billion year-over-year. GameStop also narrowed its losses during the quarter, losing $32.3 million compared to the $50.5 million loss reported for the same period a year ago.
The company also announced it would sell an additional 75 million shares alongside the 45 million share sale announced in May, which raised more than $900 million.
The stock dropped nearly 40% on Friday despite momentum from Roaring Kitty's livestream, marking its biggest one-day loss since February 4, 2021 where it plummeted 42%.
Looking Ahead:
Next week is set to be another busy week of economic news, with Wednesday hosting May's consumer price index reading in the morning as well as the Federal Open Market Committee's next monetary policy decision in the afternoon. The backend of the week will also see May's producer price index reading as well as June's preliminary consumer sentiment report.