Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market has shown mixed price action on the final session of the week. There was some buying interest in the early going before stocks reverted back to their downside trend. 

The selling interest follows this morning's release of the February Employment Situation report at 8:30 ET. The report wasn't enough for the market to shake off recent fears about growth, but it wasn't a bad report either. Nonfarm payroll growth was slightly lower than expectations; the unemployment rate increased; average hourly earnings increased; and the average workout was unchanged from January. 

The political situation and how it relates to equities remains top of mind after Treasury Secretary Bessent said in a CNBC interview that there is no "Trump put," and that there will need to be a "detox period" for a market and an economy that have gotten hooked on public spending.

There was some improvement in the major indices recently after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at the Chicago Booth School of Business Forum that thinks the path to sustainably returning inflation to the Fed's 2% target has been bumpy and will continue to be, adding that there is no rush to change policy. He also said  long-term inflation expectations are one thing to look at to help determine if tariffs have more than a one-time price adjustment impact.

Selling increased in Treasuries in response to Fed Chair Powell's comments. The 10-yr yield moved to 4.28% from 4.23%. 

Many stocks have participated in the recent improvement, leading the equal-weighted S&P 500 to trade 0.6% higher. Strength in the semiconductor space has contributed the upside moves after pleasing earnings and guidance from Broadcom (AVGO 191.53, +12.03, +6.7%).

Reviewing today's economic data:

• February Nonfarm Payrolls 151K (Briefing.com consensus 159K); Prior was revised to 125K from 143K, February Nonfarm Private Payrolls 140K (Briefing.com consensus 145K); Prior was revised to 80K from 111K, February Avg. Hourly Earnings 0.3% (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%); Prior was revised to 0.4% from 0.5%, February Unemployment Rate 4.1% (Briefing.com consensus 4.0%); Prior 4.0%, February Average Workweek 34.1 (Briefing.com consensus 34.2); Prior 34.1
  • The key takeaway from the report is that it was no better than just okay. It won't be enough to silence the growth concerns that have echoed in recent weeks through other data releases.