By Ankika Biswas and Lisa Pauline Mattackal
(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes were on track to open higher on Friday as markets reopened after the July 4 holiday, with data showing that U.S. job growth slowed to a still-healthy pace in June.
The Labor Department’s report showed non-farm payrolls rose by 206,000 jobs in June, higher than the expected 190,000 increase. However, numbers for May were revised sharply lower to 218,000 from 272,000.
The unemployment rate came in at 4.1%, where it was expected to remain unchanged at 4%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3%, as expected, and lower than the 0.4% rise in May.
“It’s a relatively benign report. The market was generally expecting the job gains to be a little bit lower, but the number was lower than May’s report that had really worried some people,” said Emily Bowersock Hill, CEO of Bowersock Capital Partners.
“If you’re the Fed, you’re saying – what happened in May is not quite as hot as we thought. The data isn’t bad enough to alarm markets, and not bad enough to worry the Fed.”
The softer reading supported the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September, which comes on the heels of the ADP Employment and weekly jobless claims reports this week that signaled easing labor market conditions.
Chances of a 25-basis point September rate cut rose to 72% after the data, according to CME Group’s (NASDAQ:) FedWatch tool, from 66%.
With Treasury yields falling after the data, megacaps including Alphabet (NASDAQ:), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) were up around 0.4% each.
Tesla (NASDAQ:) rose 1.9% after hitting its highest level since early January on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, data also showed a measure of services sector activity dropped to a four-year low and factory orders slumped unexpectedly, pointing to the U.S. economy losing steam and prompting market participants to strengthen their bets for multiple rate cuts this year.
That helped the and the Nasdaq notch record closing highs during Wednesday’s holiday-shortened trading. With the equity market also staying shut for U.S. Independence Day on Thursday, trading volumes have been light throughout the week.
At 8:47 a.m. ET, were up 46 points, or 0.12%, were up 4 points, or 0.07%, and were up 32 points, or 0.16%.
All the three major Wall Street indexes are poised for weekly gains, after high-momentum top technology stocks steered the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to strong gains in the first half of the year.
With second-quarter earnings on the horizon, it remains to be seen whether Wall Street’s rally will broaden beyond major megacap stocks and whether earnings for those companies can continue to support steep valuations.
Macy’s (NYSE:) jumped 6.9% after a report said Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital raised their bid to buy the department store chain for about $6.9 billion.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks including Coinbase (NASDAQ:) Global, Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:) and Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:) lost 5%-7% after bitcoin slumped to a more than four-month low.