In Dow Jones news today, the Dow fell nearly seven points because of the weaker than expected March jobs report and uncertainty following the U.S. military's strike on a Syrian airbase last night.
Let's look at the numbers from Friday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Dow Jones: 20,656.10; -6.85; -0.03%
S&P 500: 2,355.54; -1.95; -0.08 %
Nasdaq: 5,877.81; -1.14; -0.02%
Today's market highlights:
Reuters reported that job growth was stunted in March by bad weather, which affected the construction, hospitality, and factory sectors. The country is near "full employment."
The U.S. Senate debated the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the vacancy of the Supreme Court. After the Republican Party enacted the nuclear option on the filibuster, Gorsuch became the 113th justice to join the court by a vote of 54-45.
Markets are increasingly concerned about potential geopolitical uncertainty between the United States and Russia following the Syria airstrike.
President Donald Trump hailed "tremendous progress" in his conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida.
Now, here's a look at today's most important market events and stocks, plus a preview of Monday's economic calendar.
DJIA Today: Dow Falls on Weak Jobs Report, Growing Geopolitical Uncertainty
The Dow Jones fell Friday after the U.S. Labor Department reported the slowest job growth in roughly 10 months. There were just 98,000 jobs last month, while the official unemployment rate hit 4.5%.
Markets also kept a close eye on developments from the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. While Trump hailed progress in the discussions, there is some speculation that President Xi could be upset about the American strike on Syria during his visit to the United States.
Investors are still trying to make sense of Wednesday's session, in which the Dow saw its sharpest one-day reversal in more than a year. Markets slumped after the March FOMC meeting minutes were released. The central bank is adamant about winding down its $4.5 trillion balance sheet.
Oil prices made modest gains Friday after retreating from one-month highs. Today's lackluster jobs report weighed on trader sentiment and offset the bump received from increased geopolitical uncertainty. Crude prices have been ticking up despite concerns about rising supply levels in the United States. This afternoon, Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) reported that the number of U.S. oil production rigs increased for the 12th consecutive week. The WTI crude oil price today added 1.03%, while Brent crude gained 0.53%.
But the big story is the price of gold. Gold prices struck a five-month high Friday thanks to increased geopolitical uncertainty and the weak March jobs report. The Syrian missile strike helped gold climb 0.3% today. Money Morning Resource Specialist Peter Krauth took some time to talk about the Syrian strike's impact on the yellow metal. He also offered his latest gold forecast for 2017.
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Shares of Okta Inc. (Nasdaq: OKTA) rallied nearly 40% during their first day of trading on the public markets. The stock began trading this morning after it was introduced at $17.00 per share. The firm is a provider of cloud-based security services for multinational corporations.
Shares of Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) added more than 1% after the company was rated a good buy during the recent dip in stock prices. The defense giant manufactures tomahawk missiles like the ones fired during last night's strike on a Syrian airbase.
Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) announced plans to hire at least 30,000 new employees in the next year.
Shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) are in focus as analysts debate the timing of the company's next high-end iPhone model. Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell predicts that the technology giant will launch a redesigned iPhone later this year.