Market Brief Dow Unable to Hold 29K After NFP Miss

Matt Weller
By :  ,  Head of Market Research

Market Brief: Dow Unable to Hold 29K After NFP Miss


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  • The US Non-Farm Payrolls report was today’s marquee release, with the jobs report showing a disappointing 145k jobs were created in December (vs. 162k eyed) and weak wage growth of just 0.1% m/m (vs. 0.3% eyed – though November’s reading was revised a tick higher to 0.3% itself).
  • In any event, one soft jobs report alone is unlikely to change the Fed’s neutral outlook, so the market impact of the release was relatively small.
  • FX: The Australia dollar was the strongest major currency on the day, boosted by a strong retail sales report Down Under. The British pound and Canadian dollar were the weakest major currencies, despite the release of a solid Canadian jobs report this morning.
  • Commodities: Oil dropped nearly 1% on the day (see our oil market week ahead report for key releases and themes to watch next week, while gold ticked higher in quiet trade.
 
  • US indices closed slightly lower on the day after the DJIA peeked above 29,000 for the first time ever this morning. European equities closed essentially flat on the day.
  • REITs (XLRE) were the strongest sector on the day, and along with Utilities (XLU), one of the two sectors to trade higher today. Financials (XLF) and Industrials (XLI) were the two weakest sectors.
  • See our full week ahead report for a preview of the key data, themes and trends to watch in the coming week!

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