The U.S. added more jobs than expected last month
Futures on Wall Street are lower before Friday's open, as investors digest more jobs data following yesterday's jobless claims report. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. added 199,000 jobs in November, higher than the estimated 175,00 thanks to the conclusion of several significant national strikes.
In response, Treasury yields are moving higher, pressuring futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), S&P 500 Index (SPX), Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) lower. The blue-chip index and SPX are set to snap five-week winning streaks, while the Nasdaq is on track for its sixth-straight weekly win.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- The Fed's final interest rate decision of 2023 is next week.
- Why options traders bombarded this Big Tech behemoth.
- Plus, Spotify's c-suite shakeup; gunmaker's dramatic profit drop; and big m&a news.
5 Things You Need to Know Today
- The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw nearly 1.3 million call contracts and 765,855 put contracts traded Thursday. The single-session equity put/call ratio and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.59 and 0.69, respectively.
- Just days after announcing a swath job cuts to reduce 17% of its workforce, Spotify Technology Inc (NYSE:SPOT) is now dealing with the departure of its CFO Paul Vogel who is set to step down on March 31. Down 1.6% before the open, SPOT still sports a more than 158% year-over-year lead.
- Smith & Wesson Brands Inc (NASDAQ:SWBI) is 5.2% lower premarket, set to erase most of its 9.6% six-month gains, after a large year-over-year fall in profit. The gunmaker saw gross profit fall 19%, with gross margins contracting to 25% even as its October quarter sales rose 3% over the last 12 months.
- Shares of Carrier Global Corp (NYSE:CARR) is 6.1% higher in electronic trading, after the firm agreed to sell its Global Access Solutions unit to Honeywell (HON) for $4.95 billion in cash. Should this premarket pop hold, CARR will move into the black for the quarter.
- The first week of December features a deluge of economic data and earnings.
Japan's Q3 GDP Revision Wider Than Expected
Asian markets were mixed to close out the week, with Japan’s Nikkei pacing the laggards with a 1.7% loss, after the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) reading for the third quarter was revised to a wider-than-anticipated 0.7% fall. Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng settled slightly below breakeven with a 0.07% loss, while China’s Shanghai Composite and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.1% and 1%, respectively.
European markets are firmly higher, as investors await a key stateside jobs report, which could influence the Federal Reserve’s next moves. France’s CAC 40 is up 0.7%, the German DAX sports a 0.3% lead, and London’s FTSE 100 is 0.2% higher.