Stocks Lacked Direction After Strong November Jobs Report

Barry Adams
02 Dec, 2022
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street headed lower after hotter-than-expected November jobs data raised the fear that the Fed may stick with its aggressive rate hike regime. 

The bond yields rose and crude oil prices traded nearly unchanged in early afternoon trading. 

For the week, the benchmark indexes S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are set to close higher for the second week in a row. 

 

November Job Additions Ahead of Expectations

The U.S. economy added 263,000 net new jobs in November and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. 

Leisure and hospitality, health care, and government led the net job gains but employment declined in retail trade and in transportation and warehousing.

Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.1%, and the employment-population ratio, at 59.9%, were little changed in November and have shown little net change since early this year. 

These measures are each 1.3 percentage points below the levels in February 2020, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the report noted. 

Monthly job growth has averaged 392,000 so far in 2022, compared with 562,000 a month in 2021.

In November, average hourly earnings for all employees rose  by 18 cents or 0.6% to $32.82 and extended gains to 5.1% over the last twelve months. 

 

Markets Overview

The S&P 500 index declined 0.7% to 4,049.23 and the Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.9% to 11,374.94. 

Crude oil fell 56 cents to $80.64 cents a barrel and natural gas declined 24 cents to $6.49 a thermal unit. 

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes inched up to 4.32%, 10-year Treasury notes to 3.56% and 30-year Treasury bonds to 3.60%. 

 

Stock Movers 

Marvell Technology declined 3.8% to $43.67 after the chipmaker reported weaker-than-anticipated quarterly results. 

Revenue in the fiscal third quarter increased 27% to $1.54 billion, lower end of the company's guidance on August 25. 

In the third quarter, the company swung to a profit of $13 million from a loss of $63 million or 2 cents from a loss of 8 cents diluted share a year ago. 

The company guided fourth quarter revenue of $1.4 billion and breakeven on diluted earnings per share. 

Asana Inc dropped 11.1% to $16.06 after the work management platform operator reported wider loss than a year ago in its latest quarter. 

Revenue in the fiscal third quarter increased 41% to $141.4 million and net loss expanded to $100 million or 49 cents from $69.2 million or 37 cents a year ago. 

UiPath Inc increased 11.5% to $14.41 after the company reported quarterly results that surprised investors. 

The enterprise automation software developer said the third quarter revenue increased 19% to $262.7 million. 

Net loss in the quarter declined to $57.7 million  from $122.7 million or 10 cents from 23 cents a year ago.