Stock Market Today: Markets Churn After July Jobs Report

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published 4 August 2023

Friday marked another lackluster reaction from stocks to a key economic report, though this morning's weaker-than-expected jobs data put more support behind a pause at the next Fed meeting.

Still, while the main benchmarks made modest moves, there were plenty of fireworks among single stocks – including in Amazon.com (AMZN), which spiked on a solid earnings report.

The U.S. added 187,000 new jobs in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, the slowest pace of job growth since December 2020. This was roughly in line with June's downwardly revised 185,000, as well as economists' forecast. Average hourly earnings growth remained unchanged from the prior month, rising at an annual pace of 4.4%, while the unemployment rate ticked lower to 3.5% from 3.6%.

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Today's jobs data is just one of many economic reports to roll in ahead of the September Fed meeting, so it's hard to tell what the central bank intends to do about interest rates moving forward.

However, following the employment update, the probability of another quarter percentage point rate hike at the gathering next month fell to 14.5% from yesterday's 18% reading, according to CME Group. Last week, the Fed hiked rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) to bring the target range to its highest level in 22 years. Next up is the July Consumer Price Index (CPI), which will be released Thursday morning.

Amazon a "top idea" at UBS after earnings

On the earnings front, Amazon stock soared 8.3% after its second-quarter results. The e-commerce giant reported better-than-expected earnings of 65 cents per share on revenue of $134.4 billion. AMZN also forecast higher-than-anticipated third-quarter revenue.

UBS Global Research analyst Lloyd Walmsley called Q2 "an inflection quarter" for Amazon, which he believes will drive a "sustained move higher" in shares. "Not only did we get a trifecta beat – retail revenues, Amazon Web Services revenues and margins – but also the tone from management on the call was that there is more to come on retail margins and AWS acceleration," Walmsley said. The analyst has a Buy rating on AMZN, and has it as a "top idea" across his coverage of related stocks.

Analysts say Apple's still a Buy after earnings

Apple (AAPL), on the other hand, slumped 4.8% after reporting fiscal third-quarter earnings. While the company beat on both the top and bottom lines, total revenue was down 1% year-over-year amid declines in iPhone and iPad revenue. Additionally, on the company's earnings call, Luca Maestri, Apple's chief financial officer, said September quarter revenue will likely be "similar" to the June quarter.

Still, many experts agree that AAPL remains a solid long-term investment stock. CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino, for instance, reiterated a Buy rating on Apple after earnings, citing expectations for iPhone and Services revenue to rebound in the September quarter. "We believe the Street continues to underestimate AAPL's long-term growth and earnings per share trajectory, as we see massive growth opportunities ahead tied to India, spatial computing, foldable devices and new Services," Zino says.

As for the major indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished Friday down 0.4% at 35,065, while the S&P 500 (-0.5% at 4,478) and the Nasdaq Composite (-0.4% at 13,909) also notched modest losses.

With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.