Dow futures slide 100 points after strong jobs report likely to keep Fed in hiking mode

Stock futures fell Friday after the July jobs report came in much stronger than expected, showing more jobs added, a lower unemployment rate and higher wage growth than economists forecast.

Dow futures slipped 231 points, or 0.71%. Futures tied to the S&P 500 fell 1.08% and Nasdaq futures shed 1.33%.

—Carmen Reinicke

The U.S. economy added many more jobs than was expected last month. On Friday, the U.S. government said 528,000 jobs were added in July, easily beating a Dow Jones estimate of 258,000.

To be sure, average hourly earnings were up 5.2% year over year — well above expectations. This could be seen by the market as a sign that inflationary pressures remain strong.

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—Fred Imbert

Elon Musk said that he thinks we are past peak inflation, and predicts a mild, 18-month recession ahead.

Musk’s comments came at the Tesla 2022 shareholder meeting, held Aug. 4.

“We do get a fair bit of insight into where prices of things are going over time because when you’re making millions of cars, you have to purchase commodities many months in advance of when they’re needed,” he said.

—Carmen Reinicke

Amazon will acquire iRobot for $61.00 per share, the consumer robot company announced on Friday. The all-cash transaction is valued at approximately $1.7 billion, including iRobot’s net debt.

Shares of iRobot were halted on the news. The sale price of $61 per share is a 22% premium to Thursday’s close of $49.99. Amazon’s stock was up about .2% in pre-market trading.

—By Michelle Fox

Shares of DoorDash were up more than 10% in premarket trading Friday after the company reported quarterly results that beat expectations after market close Thursday. The food delivery service said orders grew 23% on the year last quarter, and revenue surged 30%.

The company does expect softer consumer spending in the second half of the year, it said.

—Carmen Reinicke

Oil prices were moderately lower during Friday morning trading on Wall Street and on track for steep weekly losses. Concerns around a slowdown in demand have sent prices tumbling in recent sessions.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, is down 10.5% for the week, while international benchmark Brent crude has shed 14.5%.

— Pippa Stevens

Cryptocurrencies have slumped this week after a rough start to the month. Bitcoin and Ether are both down about 3% week to date and on pace to post their first negative week in five.

The performance would also be the worst weekly drop since July 1, when Bitcoin lost 8.71% and Ether shed 13%.

—Carmen Reinicke

Stifel’s Barry Bannister hiked his S&P 500 target for the second half to 4,400 from 4,200, noting he continues to prefer cyclical growth stocks in sectors such as software and media.

Here are two reasons Bannister gave for his target bump:

• The “S&P 500 sell-off in 1H22 is still being reversed.”
• “The S&P 500 also discounts negative y/y S&P 500 EPS in 2022, but we see 2022 EPS holding its own.”

Bannister’s new target implies 6% upside from Thursday’s close.

—Fred Imbert

European markets were flat on Friday morning as investors tracked corporate earnings and awaited the key U.S. jobs report.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was little changed in early trade. Autos gained 0.8% while insurance stocks fell 0.8%.

Earnings continue to drive individual share price movement in Europe. Allianz, Deutsche Post, the London Stock Exchange Group and WPP were among the companies reporting before the bell on Friday.

– Elliot Smith

Markets in Asia-Pacific rose on Friday as investors shook off fears over China’s military exercises near Taiwan, which follow U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island this week.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.74%. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.28% and the Shenzhen Component increased 0.64%.

The Taiex in Taiwan jumped more than 2%, with chipmaker TSMC rising 2.8%.

If Friday’s jobs report shows the U.S. economy added fewer workers in July than the previous month, it is not necessarily a sign of economic weakness, according to Brad McMillan, CIO at Commonwealth Financial Network.

“If we do see a reduction in hiring, even at the expected number, it looks much more likely to be due to a shortage of workers, rather than a sudden shock to labor demand,” McMillan said in a note. “With demand strong, what matters here is labor availability.”

— Yun Li

The Fed’s commitment to bring down inflation as well as easing recession fears have sparked a relief rally in the market. The S&P 500 is now 14.2% above its 52-week intraday low of 3,636.87 from June 17. The benchmark index is also coming off its best month since November 2020, gaining more than 9% in July.

However, some on Wall Street are skeptical that the rally can sustain for much longer. Max Kettner, chief multi-asset strategist at HSBC Bank said the comeback is “wishful thinking,” and he would need to see further repricing of rate hike expectations and another sharp drop in real yields to believe it.

Widely followed Mike Wilson from Morgan Stanley also called this rally short-lived as corporate earnings are beginning to deteriorating.

Six out of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were in the green week to date, led by consumer discretionary, which has gained 2.9%.

The most negative sector this week has been energy, which has fallen more than 8% and is on track for its worst week since June 17. The decline in energy names came amid a drop in oil prices. WTI is down over 10% this week, on pace for its worst week since April.

— Yun Li