Dow Jones Industrial Average Today Rallies with Rate Chatter in Focus

By Garrett Baldwin, Executive Producer, Money Morning • May 6, 2016

Dow Jones Industrial Average News, 5/6/2016: Only in this crazy market can we see tepid job growth, weakening manufacturing numbers, and still see the Dow rally more than 70 points in a day. The markets pushed higher as weakening data suggests that the U.S. central bank won't move on interest rates in the near future, meaning the era of loose monetary policy can continue.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, the nation created 160,000 nonfarm jobs in April, a steep slide from the 202,000 projected by a survey of economists. This is the weakest job figure since September.

Here's what else you need to know about the markets on May 6, 2016.

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First up, check out the results for the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:

Dow Jones: 17,740.63; +79.92; 0.45%                                

S&P 500: 2,057.14; +6.51; 0.32%   

Nasdaq: 4,736.15; +19.06; 0.40%

Now, here's the top stock market news today...

DJIA Today: U.S. Jobs Report Underwhelms, Fed Likely to Hold Rates Steady

Gold futures spiked after the U.S. Labor Department announced weaker than expected job growth in April. Although the official unemployment rate remained at 5%, investors were cautious about the health of the American economy. They now anticipate that the U.S. Federal Reserve will wait much longer before hiking interest rates again. Gold prices gained 1.4%, while silver prices pushed up nearly 1%. (In fact, one billionaire sees it going higher, and you can read all about it right here.)

According to CME Group, there is just a 13% probability that the Federal Reserve will boost rates during its June committee meeting. December is the month when CME FedWatch projects the odds of a rate hike will be north of 50%.

Despite the weak jobs report and reduced expectations for the next hike, New York Fed President William Dudley said April's employment performance did little to impact his economic outlook and predicted that markets can still anticipate two rate hikes this year.

WTI crude oil prices continued to climb Wednesday as global supply disruptions and declining production in the United States continue to fuel the case for higher prices. In a key piece of data released this afternoon, oil field services giant Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) announced that the U.S. production rig count fell by another four platforms last week. The total number of U.S. rigs has declined by 340 compared to the same time last year, signaling a massive decline in domestic production in the face of falling oil prices and increased bankruptcies in the sector.

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices ticked up as wildfires in Alberta, Canada, have slashed the nation's oil output by one-third. Meanwhile, militants in Nigeria attacked a production platform owned by Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), while fighting in Libya raised concerns about the nation's output in the months ahead. CVX stock still finished the day up 0.3%. Supply and demand stories like these have our Global Energy Specialist revising his oil forecast upward.

You can see where oil prices are heading next, right here.

Now, let's look at the day's biggest stock movers and the must-own stock for today...

Top Stock Market News Today

• On the earnings front, Endo International (Nasdaq: ENDP) cratered more than 40% after the firm slashed its 2015 profit and revenue outlook. That pulled down the broader healthcare and biotech sector. The iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF (Nasdaq: IBB) fell by 1.6% on the day.
• Shares of GoPro Inc. (Nasdaq: GPRO) fell 2.3% after the firm's earnings report underwhelmed. The company beat Wall Street top-line earnings expectations but announced that it will delay the release of its drone until the holiday season. During a call, the GoPro CEO Nick Woodman also discussed that the firm saw revenue decline by 50% during the previous quarter. That was still better than Wall Street had anticipated. Here's what's next for GPRO stock in the months ahead.
• The woes for Jack Dorsey just keep coming. The technology CEO saw shares of his payment company Square Inc. (NYSE: SQ) plunge more than 20% after the company reported a huge quarterly loss. The firm narrowly topped revenue expectations, but operating expenses surged last quarter. Like Square, shares of Dorsey-run Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) have also been unable to find a bottom as the social media giant struggles to generate advertising revenue. Here's what everyone wants to know: Can the Square stock price recover from today's collapse? You can find that answer, right here.
• Shares of Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) rallied almost 8.5% after the company crushed Wall Street earnings expectations and offered strong guidance on the future of video game sales. The firm said that it saw especially strong sales from its signature series, "Call of Duty."
• Finally, here is your stock of the day. It's no secret that media companies are worried about cord-cutting these days. The cost of cable continues to surge with more Americans forced to buy more channels that they don't need for cable packages they can't afford. But Americans are walking away from triple-digit cable packages. In fact, Money Morning experts believe there are two related catalysts that will drive this stock higher.

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