Equity futures and U.S. Treasury yields surged on incoming data showing the labor market remains “resilient” even amid down-trending sentiment survey results.
Meanwhile, reports of de-escalation in the burgeoning feud between President Donald Trump and erstwhile adviser Elon Musk provided an additional boost for the bulls on Jobs Friday.
They continue to turn May’s rally into June’s with fresh inflation data looming on Wednesday, early consumer survey results deadlining next Friday, and the Federal Reserve in a quiet period ahead of its upcoming policy meeting.
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Tensions between the president and the Tesla CEO may or may not have eased – the White House would like to move on. But Trump, unbound by any “quiet period,” continues to attack Fed Chair Jerome “Too Late” Powell.
“If ‘Too Late’ at the Fed would CUT, we would greatly reduce interest rates, long and short, on debt that is coming due,” posted the president about 20 minutes after Friday’s opening bell.
U.S. Treasury yields were higher across maturities, the 2-year up to 4.041% from 3.924% Thursday, the 10-year up to 4.506% from 4.395% and the 30-year up to 4.966% from 4.884%.
By the closing bell, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1% at 42,762, the broad-based S&P 500 had added 1.0% to 6,000, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 1.2% at 19,529.
Donnie vs Lonnie: who wins?
Tesla (TSLA) rebounded 3.7% Friday after its 14.3% crash Thursday and recovered about $50 billion of the $152 billion in market capitalization it lost.
Indeed, stocks to buy for a Trump presidency were up across the board.
And Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) was up 3.9%.
“The most colorful story is the rift between President Trump and Elon Musk,” muses Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates, who recounts the Tesla CEO’s journey from fanboy to critic as the president’s “big beautiful bill” made its way through the House and to the Senate.
And “the rhetoric between the two got really heated” as TSLA stock fell from an intraday high of $355 Tuesday to an intraday low of $273 Thursday.
Other names in the Trump Industrial Complex, such as AI stock Palantir Technologies (PLTR, +6.5%), rose amid peace-for-now between Trump and Musk.
Beyond the battle between social media heavyweights with market-moving implications, according to Navellier, “What people are looking for is to see if the S&P can close above 6,000.”
The index climbed as high as 6,016.87 within 15 minutes of Thursday’s opening bell. “Clearly,” Navellier concludes, “the trend remains positive.”
Take these jobs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said nonfarm payrolls increased by 139,000 in May, ahead of a consensus estimate of 130,000. As expected, the unemployment rate remained at 4.2%.
The BLS reported a net downward revision of 95,000 jobs for the previous two months, the March count down from 185,000 to 120,000, and April’s count trimmed from 177,000 to 147,000.
Average weekly hours were unchanged at 34.3, while average hourly earnings increased from $36.09 in April to $36.24 in May. Average weekly earnings increased from $1,237.89 in April to $1,243.03 in May.
“It’s clear that the economy remains resilient, with the job market holding up well,” says Northlight Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Chris Zaccarelli.
Zaccarelli adds that the Fed “should be reluctant to cut rates because the full effects of tariffs haven’t impacted inflation numbers yet and the job market isn’t deteriorating enough to force their hand.”
Raymond James Chief Economist Eugenio J. Alemán suggests the report “will appease market concerns about the U.S. labor market” and that “even after those large downward revisions, job growth remains healthy for now.”
Echoing Zaccarelli, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Chief Economic Strategist Ellen Zentner concludes that “continued labor market resilience could help the economy sidestep recession.”