Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Monday, clawing back losses from the previous session’s tumble as hopes for deeper Federal Reserve rate cuts surged in the wake of an unexpectedly weak jobs report.
At 9:33 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 301.22 points, or 0.69%, to 43,889.80, the S&P 500 gained 48.91 points, or 0.78%, to 6,286.21 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 205.12 points, or 0.99%, at 20,855.25.
A dismal U.S. jobs report hammered the S&P 500 on Friday, sending the index to its steepest intraday drop in more than two months, while downward revisions for May and June also compounded the blow.
The bleak data did not just trigger the market selloff but also forced a dramatic rethink of the Fed’s rate trajectory.
Traders, who had been leaning toward another pause in September, are now seeing an 85% chance of a rate cut, as signs of a weakening labor market pile up.
By the end of the year, markets expect at least two quarter-point cuts – a prospect that ultimately helped steady Wall Street. The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, fell to 18.45 points, after surging to an over one-month high during Friday’s rout.
Wall St selloff sparked by Trump tariffs, Amazon results, weak payrolls
Investors also weighed Fed Governor Adriana Kugler’s unexpected resignation that could open the door for President Donald Trump to put his stamp on the central bank’s leadership sooner than expected.
Trump, a vocal critic of the Fed’s policy, has repeatedly threatened to oust Chair Jerome Powell.
“If we get to a point where Jerome Powell was pushed out earlier than he’s expected to go anywhere, that is going to unsettle markets, and that is possibly the pill that they won’t swallow,” said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.
Meanwhile, Tesla rose 2.6% after granting CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares worth about $29 billion.
All S&P 500 sub-sectors were trading in the green, with technology surging 1.1%, emerging as the top performer.
Lyft gained 2.9% after partnering with China’s Baidu to deploy robotaxis across Europe starting next year.
U.S. factory orders data for June is due at 10:00 a.m. ET. Tuesday’s business activity report and Thursday’s jobless claims figures are the only other key economic indicators in this data-light week.
After a big week for Big Tech earnings, companies from various sectors, including Palantir, Eli Lilly, and Disney, will report this week.
Of the 330 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings as of Friday, 80.6% have surpassed analyst expectations, the highest beat rate since the third quarter of 2023, according to data compiled by LSEG I/B/E/S.
Among early movers, Joby Aviation rose 17.5% after Bloomberg News reported that the company was exploring the acquisition of helicopter ride-share operator Blade Air Mobility . Blade Air’s shares surged 25.4%.
Spotify gained 7.6% as the music streaming platform announced plans to raise the monthly price of its premium individual subscription in select markets from September.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.77-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.02-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 new highs and 26 new lows.
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