Dow Jones Industrial Average News, 8/5/2016 - The probability of an interest rate hike in December increased from 30% to almost 40% on Friday, according to the CME Group. The jump came after the U.S. Labor Department announced a strong July jobs report.
The jobs report fueled the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to record highs, and forced many investors to forget all of the massive stimulus programs announced earlier this week to combat weak global economic growth.
We've seen this too many times before to play this game. Like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, the Fed has repeatedly teased a rate hike, only to find some other excuse (the Brexit, China's currency devaluation, bad weather) to prevent a rate hike.
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While that story was trending, a number of profit opportunities and important stories likely slipped under the radar.
Before we get to those stories, check out the results for the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Dow Jones: 18,543.53; +191.48; +1.04%
S&P 500: 2,182.87; +18.62; +0.86%
Nasdaq: 5,221.12; +54.87; +1.06%
Now, here's the top stock market news today... and your best ways to profit.
The Nasdaq and S&P 500 were tracking for record closing highs on Friday as investors poured back into stocks thanks heavily to a positive jobs report. This morning, the U.S. Labor Department announced the July unemployment rate held steady at 4.9%. This morning's jobs report indicates that the United States saw an increase in 255,000 jobs last month, easily surpassing the economist expectations of 180,000.
Despite the positive report, the nation is still experiencing lackluster economic growth. CNBC reports that GDP growth over the first half of 2016 sat at roughly 1%.
The hopes of a rate hike are always good for the financial index, which hit its highest point of 2016. Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) added 2.7%. Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) added 2.5%, while Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was up about 2.6%. Today's top gainer in the sector were shares of Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. (NYSE: AHT).
Gold prices and silver prices slumped after Friday's positive jobs report. Gold prices slipped by 1.7%, while silver prices were off 3.3%. Here's why silver prices were falling and where we see them heading from here in 2016.
Crude oil prices were flat on Friday after the Labor Department announced its positive report. The oil markets are holding in a cozy range despite news that the U.S. production rig count increased by seven last week to 381. Our Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors explains we are entering a period of "range-bound" oil prices, which can be very profitable for the savvy investor.
WTI crude was off 0.1%, while Brent crude prices added 0.1%.
The big news today came from Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL). The tech giant announced plans to award bounties of up to $200,000 to anyone who can identify possible security vulnerabilities in its products. This is a major change for Apple, which has never relied on external security experts or ethical hackers to identify flaws in the firm's technologies. While that story was featured all over the major media outlets, investors might have missed something. There's a major catalyst that is poised to drive AAPL stock up to $200 per share. Read all about it, right here.
Now, let's look at the day's biggest stock movers.
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About the Author
Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.