The Dow Jones today will turn positive after the U.S. economy reported 136,000 new jobs last month. Markets will get a brief rest from concerns about economic growth and consumer confidence.
The U.S. unemployment rate is also at a 50-year low of 3.5%. But recession fears prevail. More on this further down.
First, here are the numbers from Thursday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Index
Previous Close
Point Change
Percentage Change
Dow Jones
26,201.04
+122.42
+0.47
S&P 500
2,910.63
+23.02
+0.80
Nasdaq
7,872.26
+87.02
+1.12
Now, here's a closer look at today's Money Morning insight, the most important market events, and stocks to watch.
The Top Stock Market Stories for Friday
This morning, the markets tied themselves to the mast of one report: the September jobs report. The report was positive; however, there are still cracks showing. This week, Moody's suggested that about one-fifth of the U.S. economy is already in recession. Meanwhile, several major U.S. companies like HP Inc. (NYSE: HP) and Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) are planning job cuts as the winter months approach.
The markets again anticipate that the Federal Reserve will cut rates by the end of the year. Following the worst manufacturing report in a decade, yields continued to slide in the United States. In fact, we've seen a six-day drop in rates as concerns continue to mount around the U.S. services sector as well. Earlier this week, Australia's central bank cut its official cash rate by 0.25% to a record low of 0.75%. The country cited lackluster growth through the first half of the year - just 1.4%. It blamed the U.S.-China trade war.
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WeWork is in a rush to raise cash after its IPO collapsed in spectacular fashion. With the firm facing a cash crunch looking out to Q2 2020, it will put two companies up for sale. This will be challenging, since WeWork just bought both companies very recently. It's looking to sell Teem, which creates conference room scheduling software. WeWork bought that company in late 2018 for $94 million. It also is attempting to sell workplace management software firm SpaceIQ, which it bought just three months ago.
Stocks to Watch Today: FB, DPZ, HP
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg turned heads on Thursday night after suggesting that no person "deserves to have that much money" when discussing the idea of billionaires. Zuckerberg, who is No. 11 on the Forbes 400, replied that he didn't have a threshold on how much wealth someone should have, but he said "on some level" no person deserves that level of wealth. It's interesting to hear one of the world's richest people take a bit of a defensive stance on wealth given the current political climate. Both Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have called for massive wealth taxes on Americans who have a net worth over $50 million.
Shares of Domino's Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) moved higher Friday after the company received an upgrade from Wedbush. The investment firm rates DPZ stock in the "outperform" category and said that market sentiment has been too negative around the firm.
HP Inc. (NYSE: HP) has announced it will cut up to 16% of its workforce as the firm attempts to cut about $1 billion in costs. The company is planning both voluntary retirement and workforce reductions. Shares of HP fell more than 6.5% this morning.
No major U.S. firms report earnings on Friday.
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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.