U.S. stocks traded mostly lower toward the end of trading, following the release of jobs data
The Dow traded down 0.01% to 32,724.99 while the NASDAQ fell 0.92% to 12,604.01. The S&P also fell, dropping, 0.49% to 4,131.45.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Energy shares climbed 2.3% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:CLMT), up 19% and Aemetis Inc (NASDAQ:AMTX) up 23%.
In trading on Friday, consumer discretionary shares fell 2.2%.
Top Headline
The U.S. added 528,000 jobs in July, beating consensus economist estimates of 258,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped from 3.6% to 3.5%, returning to its pre-COVID pandemic level. Wages were up 5.2% from a year ago and by 0.5% from June.
Equities Trading UP
Athenex Inc (NASDAQ:ATNX) shares shot up 48% to $0.93 as India's Intas Pharmaceuticals and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd are reportedly in talks to acquire Athenex.
Shares of Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. (NYSE:CPS) got a boost, shooting 75% to $8.88 after the company reported better-than-expected Q2 adjusted EPS and sales results.
Marker Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRKR) shares were also up, gaining 64% to $0.54. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced clearance to Marker Therapeutics’ Investigational New Drug (IND) application for MT-601 for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Equities Trading DOWN
Quoin Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:QNRX) shares tumbled 61% to $5.54 after the company priced a $16.8 million public offering.
Shares of Hyzon Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:HYZN) were down 38% to $2.79 after the company late Thursday disclosed an investigation into internal controls and revenue recognition timing. JP Morgan downgraded the stock to Underweight on Friday.
Helius Medical Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSDT) was down, falling 53% to $0.48 after the company announced pricing of $18 million public offering.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.4% to $88.87, while gold traded down 0.9% to $1,790.50.
Silver traded down 1.3% to $19.86 on Friday while copper rose 2% to $3.5510.
Euro zone
European shares closed mostly lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 0.76%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.11% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.08%. The German DAX fell 0.65%, French CAC 40 fell 0.63% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index fell 0.26%.
Payroll employment in the French private sector increased 0.5% to 20.70 million in the second quarter, while industrial production in Germany increased by 0.4% month-over-month in June. The Halifax house price index in the UK rose 11.8% year-over-year in July
Economics
The U.S. added 528,000 jobs in July, beating consensus economist estimates of 258,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped from 3.6% to 3.5%, returning to its pre-COVID pandemic level. Wages were up 5.2% from a year ago and by 0.5% from June.
COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 93,739,660 cases with around 1,057,810 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,107,580 cases and 526,600 deaths, while France reported over 33,993,930 COVID-19 cases with 152,450 deaths. In total, there were at least 587,031,760 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,431,240 deaths.
