Stock Market Today: Stocks power higher on China trade hopes, jobs data
U.S. stocks are looking to extend their longest daily winning streak since last August.
U.S. equity futures moved firmly higher in early Friday trading as comments from China suggesting it's open to trade talks that offset the impact tariffs are likely to have on the profits of tech giants Apple and Amazon.
Updated at 8:44 AM EST
Still working
The U.S. economy had another outsized month of new job gains in April, but downward revisions to prior estimates suggests some modest labor market easing ahead of the likely impact of tariffs and government workforce cuts over the coming months.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 177,000 new jobs were created in April, a tally that topped Wall Street's 138,000 forecast and the downwardly revised March reading of 185,000. February's total was revised lower to a gain of 85,000.
Average hourly earnings eased as well, falling 0.2% from the previous month and slowing to an annual pace of 3.8%, just inside Wall Street's 3.9% forecast.
The headline unemployment rate, which tracks only those actively seeking new employment, edged higher to 4.2%, while the labor force participation rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 62.6%.
Stock futures extended their premarket advance following the data release, with futures tied to the S&P 500 indicating a 42-point opening bell slump and the Nasdaq called 133 points higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last called 295 points higher.
177,000 US jobs were added in April, well above expectations for 130,000 new jobs. This was the 52nd consecutive month of jobs growth in the US, the 2nd longest streak in history.https://t.co/rQuXrxVpWs pic.twitter.com/UyUA3fV5sL— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) May 2, 2025
Updated at 7:32 AM EST
Oil's unwell
Exxon Mobil (XOM) shares moved higher, while Chevron (CVX) shares slumped, following a mixed set of first-quarter earnings from the country's biggest oil producers.
Exxon offset a slump in global oil prices, tied in part to U.S. recession fears, with solid earnings from its gas and shale divisions and even as refining profit fell 40% from a year earlier to $827 million.
Chevron, meanwhile, saw largely flat production levels for the first quarter, and said it wouldn't make any major changes to its capital-spending plans this year. It trimmed its current-quarter share buyback by around 30% to $2.75 billion.
Exxon shares were last marked 0.9% higher in premarket trading while Chevron slumped 2%.
ExxonMobil, $XOM, Q1-25. Results:
