Wall Street had a full three days to digest the March jobs report, and it's clear investors liked what they saw.
The Labor Department reported Friday, a stock-market holiday, that the U.S. added 916,000 jobs last month – a massive beat of economists' expectations for 647,000 additions. It also was a significant jump from February's 468,000 new jobs – a number that itself was revised upward by nearly 100,000.
The report "emphasizes the strong recovery that is beginning to take shape in the service sector of the economy," says Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management. "With 280k jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector added, it is a clear signal that pockets of the economy that have been hit by pandemic restrictions are starting to come back to life."
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Be a smarter, better informed investor.
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
Further bolstering that case was the Institute for Supply Management's March service reading, which rose to 63.7 from 55.3 in February, shattering expectations for a 59.0 reading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.1%) hit a record high of 33,527, led by gains in Walgreens (WBA, +3.7%), Intel (INTC, +3.1%) and Walmart (WMT, +2.8%). The S&P 500 also recorded a new high-water mark, up 1.4% to 4,077.
Other action in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 improved by 0.5% to 2,264.
- Global COVID outbreaks and an OPEC+ vote to increase production sent U.S. crude oil futures 4.5% lower to $58.69 per barrel.
- Gold futures were marginally higher to $1,728.80 per ounce.
- Bitcoin prices finished 0.2% higher on Monday to reach $59,006. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.)
FAANGs Start to Look Sharper, Too
The Nasdaq Composite remains a few hundred points shy of its February highs, but it still had itself a day, climbing 1.7% to 13,705.
The tech-heavy index was propelled in part by Tesla (TSLA), which jumped 4.4% along with several other electric vehicle stocks Monday. Wedbush technology analyst Dan Ives upgraded Tesla to "Outperform" and raised his price target to $1,000 amid several drivers, including EV-friendly initiatives in President Joe Biden's $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan.
Also heading higher were all of the "FAANGs," best among them Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL, +4.2%) and Facebook (FB, +3.4%) – welcome news for the group of mega-cap tech and tech-adjacent stocks that easily outstripped the major indices in 2020 but have collectively simmered this year, underperforming the S&P 500 on average.
Most of the analyst community remains bullish on the group, though each of these large companies has a more difficult row to hoe in 2021. Should you buy the FAANGs now? Consider the challenges faced by each of these five widely held stocks in the months ahead – and what, if anything, they're doing to fight back.
-
Quiz: How Well Do You Know Delaware Statutory Trusts?Quiz Real estate investing pro Daniel Goodwin recently wrote about Delaware statutory trusts for Adviser Intel. Find out if you understand how DSTs work.
-
S&P 500 Snaps Losing Streak Ahead of Nvidia Earnings: Stock Market TodayThe Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed higher for the first time in five days, while the Nasdaq Composite notched a win too.
-
Dow Falls 557 Points to Start NVDA Week: Stock Market TodayThe Oracle of Omaha saw growth and value in certain corners of the stock market during the third quarter.
-
Dow Dives 797 Points as Government Opens: Stock Market TodayThe process of pricing and re-pricing realities old and new never stops, and next week promises to be at least as exciting as this week.
-
Stocks Bounce But End With Big Weekly Losses: Stock Market TodayThe stock market rout continued on Friday, but a late-day burst of buying power brought the main indexes off their session lows.
-
Elon Musk's $1 Trillion Pay Package Passes: What's at Stake for Tesla StockMore than 75% of Tesla shareholders voted to approve a massive pay package for CEO Elon Musk. Here's what it means for the Mag 7 stock.
-
If You'd Put $1,000 Into Home Depot Stock 20 Years Ago, Here's What You'd Have TodayHome Depot stock has been a buy-and-hold banger for truly long-term investors.
-
Stocks Sink with Meta, Microsoft: Stock Market TodayAlphabet was a bright light among the Magnificent 7 stocks today after the Google parent's quarterly revenue topped $100 billion for the first time.
-
Dow, S&P 500 Slip on December Rate Cut Worries, Nvidia Boosts Nasdaq: Stock Market TodayNvidia became the first company ever to boast a $5 trillion market cap, but it wasn't enough to lift the Dow and the S&P 500.
-
Stocks Hit Fresh Highs Ahead of the Fed As Earnings Pump Optimism: Stock Market TodaySHW and UNH were two of the best Dow Jones stocks Tuesday, thanks to solid earnings reports, and MSFT closed with a $4 trillion market cap.
