Dow Jumps Over 200 Points; US Economy Adds 187,000 Jobs In August

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, following the release of jobs data.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.65% to 34,948.33 while the NASDAQ rose 0.67% to 14,128.42. The S&P 500, also rose, gaining, 0.65% to 4,537.13.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares jumped by 1.7% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, consumer staples shares rose by just 0.3%.

Top Headline

The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August versus the downwardly revised 157,000 increase in July and compared to market expectations of 170,000. The unemployment rate increased to 3.8% in August from 3.5% in July.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on US private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.2% to $33.82 in August following a 0.4% growth in the earlier month.

Equities Trading UP

Taoping Inc. TAOP shares shot up 97% to $4.42 after the company reported a year-over-year increase in H1 EPS and sales results.

Shares of Edible Garden AG Incorporated EDBL got a boost, shooting 150% to $3.22.

TRxADE HEALTH, Inc. MEDS shares were also up, gaining 49% to $11.39.

Equities Trading DOWN

Aditxt, Inc. ADTX shares dropped 39% to $33.50 after the company announced a $10 million private placement priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.

Shares of Akso Health Group AHG were down 26% to $0.6913.

iCoreConnect Inc. ICCT was down, falling 23% to $9.25. The company last Friday announced the closing of its previously announced business combination with FG Merger Corp.

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 1.3% to $84.74 while gold traded up 0.2% at $1,970.70.

Silver traded up 0.9% to $25.03 on Friday while copper rose 1.5% to $3.8795.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.4% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.4% The German DAX slipped 0.1% French CAC 40 rose 0.3%, while Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose 0.1%.

The HCOB Eurozone manufacturing PMI rose to 43.5 in August from July’s reading of 42.7, while France manufacturing PMI rose to 46 in August from July's 45.1. The HCOB German manufacturing PMI was confirmed at a reading of 39.1 in August, while the S&P Global/CIPS UK manufacturing PMI rose to 43.0 in August versus the preliminary reading of 42.5.

Industrial producer prices in Italy declined by 10.2% year-over-year in July, while Italian GDP shrank by 0.4% quarter-over-quarter during the three months to June. The HCOB Italy manufacturing PMI climbed to 45.4 in August from 44.5 a month ago.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed higher on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaining 0.28% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index gaining 0.43%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, rose 0.86%.

The S&P Global Indian manufacturing PMI rose to a 3-month high of 58.6 in August from 57.7 in the previous month, while the Caixin China general manufacturing PMI increased to 51.0 in August from 49.2 in July. Japanese manufacturing PMI fell to 49.6 in August versus a flash level of 49.7.

Economics

The U.S. economy added 187,000 jobs in August versus the downwardly revised 157,000 increase in July and compared to market expectations of 170,000. The unemployment rate increased to 3.8% in August from 3.5% in July.

Average hourly earnings for all employees on US private nonfarm payrolls increased by 0.2% to $33.82 in August following a 0.4% growth in the earlier month.

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COVID-19 Update

The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 108,087,320 cases with around 1,173,650 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,997,160 cases and 531,930 deaths, while France reported over 40,138,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,640 deaths. In total, there were at least 694,630,520 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,911,550 deaths.