The Dow Jones Industrial Average and other major stock indexes opened sharply higher on Friday morning as the U.S. saw weaker-than-expected jobs growth in April. That raised investors’ hopes of an economic cooling that might make the Federal Reserve comfortable enough about inflation to cut interest rates in the months ahead.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the U.S. added 175,000 jobs in April, falling short of the anticipated 235,000 gain and slowing down from the 315,000 jobs added in March. The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% last month. The report comes two days after the Fed suggested it won’t raise interest rates this year as inflation remains elevated above its 2% target.
The Dow quickly jumped more than 500 points after markets opened, before giving some of those gains back to trade up 363 points, or almost 1%, by mid-morning. The S&P 500 gained about 0.8% and the Nasdaq rose 1.6%.
Apple stock jumped 7% Friday morning following the company’s better-than-feared second-quarter earnings report the day before.
And crypto exchange Coinbase and Jack Dorsey’s Block reported blockbuster earnings reports on Thursday, sending Bitcoin’s price back above $61,000 on Friday morning.
Apple stock spikes over 6% on buyback and earnings
Apple stock jumped 6.6% in mid-morning trading following the company’s better-than-feared second-quarter earnings report the day before.
Apple beat Wall Street’s expectations Thursday, reporting sales of $90.8 billion for the three months ended March 30. The company also announced its largest-ever stock buyback, authorizing $110 billion in share repurchases and raising its cash dividend by 4%.
Amgen stock surges 13%
Amgen stock picked up 13% in mid-morning trading, a day after its CEO Robert Bradway teased encouraging trial results of its experimental weight loss drug MariTide.
“The interim phase 2 analysis for this study is complete, and we are very encouraged with results that we’ve seen thus far and with the conduct of the trial,” Bradway said Thursday on a call with investors. “Following the interim analysis, I would say, we’re confident in MariTide’s differentiated profile and believe it will address important unmet medical needs.”
While results from the study will be released in late 2024, the company is already planning a larger phase 3 trial of drug for multiple uses, including obesity and diabetes.
Bitcoin above $61,000 – thanks to Coinbase and Block
Crypto exchange Coinbase and Jack Dorsey’s Block reported blockbuster earnings reports on Thursday, sending Bitcoin’s price back above $61,000 on Friday morning.
Coinbase reported earnings of $4.40 per share compared to analysts’ estimates of $1.15 per share. The company’s revenue was $1.64 billion, versus the average estimate of $1.36 billion.
Block announced in its latest earnings report that it will use 10% of its gross profit from Bitcoin products to purchase Bitcoin every month. The company reported $5.96 billion in revenue, exceeding analysts’ estimates of $5.75 billion. The company’s earnings per share were $0.85, beating the expectations of $0.62 per share. In the first quarter, the company’s gross profit grew by 22% in a year to $2.09 billion.
Coinbase stock was down 1.2% in mid-morning trading, while Block stock was up about 2.5%.
-Laura Bratton and Bruce Gil contributed to the article.
