Stock market turns green after the open as jobs report keeps Fed at status quo.

Posted by author March 7, 2025 Jobs

Spread the love

U.S. stocks turned slightly higher after the open despite fewer-than-expected jobs added in February and an unexpected uptick in the unemployment rate.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 151,000 jobs in February, less than the consensus forecast of 170,000 from economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate edged up a tenth to 4.1%, above expectations for the rate to remain steady at 4.0%.

At 10 a.m. ET, the broad S&P 500 index added 0.08%, or 4.61 points, to 5,743.13; the blue-chip Dow edged up 0.063%, or 26.87 points, to 42,605.95; and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.31%, or 56.58 points, to 18,125.83. The benchmark 10-year yield fell to 4.251%.

The data were not as strong as expected, but economists don’t think it moves the needle for the Federal Reserve in deciding whether it should continue to lower rates later this year.

“The February payrolls data wasn’t soft enough to change the Fed’s calculus, but we are eager to hear how they are thinking about the bigger picture,” said Elyse Ausenbaugh, head of investment strategy at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. “Recently, there have been a handful of data points pointing towards a growth slowdown, and we think the Fed’s bias is still tilted towards easing.”

Recent data that suggested economic slowing include declines in consumer confidence and households struggling to spend beyond necessities.

Stock gains on Friday may be limited though due to the uncertain tariff picture. President Donald Trump‘s back-and-forth rhetoric on tariffs is creating uncertainty and anxiety, investors say. This week, alone, he slapped a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods and an additional 10% tax on Chinese goods only to walk some of that back in bits and pieces later. First, he exempted the auto sector for a month from the 25% levy and then expanded that to everything covered under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement.

The whiplash has pushed the three major U.S. stock indexes lower this week, putting them on course for their worst week since September 2024. The Nasdaq fell into correction territory, meaning it closed at least 10% off its all-time high.

Tariffs and inflation

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent continues to say he doesn’t believe tariffs will add much to inflation. In an interview before the jobs report, he said on CNBC that tariffs would lead to a “one-time price adjustment” rather than long-term inflation.

Bessent also said the administration was “not getting much credit” for areas where costs have fallen since Trump’s inauguration, such as oil prices and mortgage rates.

He also acknowledged the economy may be weakening a bit, but that’s an expected adjustment. “Could we be seeing that this economy that we inherited starting to roll a bit? Sure,” he said. “And look, there’s going to be a natural adjustment as we move away from public spending to private spending.”

Corporate news

Broadcom shares jumped 5.79% after the chipmaker reported a surge in AI revenue for last quarter. Earnings beat forecasts, too.
Walgreens agreed to go private in a deal with private equity firm Sycamore Partners in a deal with an equity value of around $10 billion. Sycamore will pay $11.45 per share in cash for the drugstore chain and another possible $3 more per share in the future from sales of Walgreens’ primary-care businesses, including Village Medical, Summit Health and CityMD. Walgreens shares rose 7.64%.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it will cut about 5% of its global workforce and warned tariffs would weigh on its annual profit. Shares tumbled 15.79%.
Gap said sales were stronger than expected during the holiday quarter. The stock rallied 14.32%.
Costco’s quarterly revenue missed expectations, but growth in same-store sales was higher-than-expected. Shares fell 5.31%.

Cryptocurrency

Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to create a strategic bitcoin reserve funded exclusively with bitcoin seized in criminal and civil forfeiture cases, White House crypto and artificial intelligence czar David Sacks wrote in a post on X.

The executive order also creates a U.S. digital asset stockpile of other confiscated crypto, managed by the Treasury Department.

Bitcoin was last up 1.12% at $90,978.25, above the key, round level of $90,000.

Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.