Stocks closed higher Friday, putting an end to a string of weekly losses for the broad market. This stretch of negative price action resulted in stiff February losses for the major benchmarks, which may have sparked a relief rally in recent sessions. Declining Treasury yields and a solid reading on the U.S. services sector also lifted investor sentiment to end the week.
Taking a closer look at today's economic data shows the S&P Global U.S. Services purchasing managers index (PMI) moved back into expansion territory in February, rising to 50.6 from January's 46.8. And while the Institute for Supply Management's services PMI ticked lower in February, to 55.1 from 55.2, it still came in above the consensus estimate.
"U.S. stocks rallied after another impressive ISM services index suggests that part of the economy remains healthy and as Treasuries rally after the Fed's [semi-annual] monetary policy report [to Congress] said 'high inflation is not becoming entrenched,'" says Edward Moya, senior market strategist at currency data provider OANDA.
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In single-stock news, shares of C3.ai (AI) shot up 33.7% after earnings. In its fiscal third quarter, the enterprise artificial intelligence software company reported a narrower-than-expected loss of 6 cents per share on better-than-anticipated revenue of $66.7 million. C3.ai also gave upbeat revenue guidance for the current quarter.
"As we enter Q4 FY 23, we are seeing tailwinds from improved business optimism and increased interest in applying C3 AI solutions to address an increasing range of applications across a broad range of industries," said Thomas Siebel, CEO of C3.ai, in the company's press release. "The overall business sentiment appears to be improving. This is a dramatic change from what we experienced in mid-2022." Today's rally in C3.ai created tailwinds for other AI stocks, including Nvidia (NVDA, +2.5%) and Snowflake (SNOW, +5.1%).
As for the major benchmarks, the Nasdaq rose 2.0% to 11,689, the S&P 500 gained 1.6% to 4,045, and the Dow added 1.2% to 33,390. For the week, the indexes gained between 1.7% and 2.6%, with the S&P 500 scoring its first weekly win since Feb. 3 and the Dow its first since Jan. 27.
Jobs data rolls in next week
So what's in store for next week? The consumer will remain in focus with several retailers, including Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), on the earnings calendar. Additionally, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give his semi-annual testimony in front of Congress. The two-day event begins on Tuesday, with Powell appearing before the Senate Banking Committee.
But it's the state of the labor market that will likely garner the most attention, with several data points slated for release – namely, Friday's nonfarm payrolls report. "All eyes will be on Friday's employment report after the year started with a strong 517,000 nonfarm payrolls added in one single month," says Larry Adam, chief investment officer for Private Client Group at Raymond James. January's blowout jobs report "caught the market by surprise last month. The upcoming jobs report should give the market some clarity on whether the surge was a seasonable blip or an indication that the labor market remains red hot," Adam says, adding that this (in addition to the next CPI report) will be a "crucial piece of data" at the next Fed meeting.
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