Stocks largely fell during Friday's session after President Donald Trump announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19 very early Friday morning, fueling uncertainty towards the upcoming presidential election. However, later market trading relatively pared most of Friday morning's losses as market participants were encouraged by the House passing new $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package late Thursday evening.
The Labor Department's September jobs report saw the addition of 661,000 new positions during the month, below consensus economists expectations for a rise of 859,000. However, the unemployment rate fell to a better than expected 7.9%. The report seemed to confirm fears that the economy's pandemic recovery is stagnating, meaning more stimulus will be needed to make a positive impact on growth.
Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers final reading on consumer confidence for September rose more than expected to 80.4 from August's 74.1 and September's preliminary reading of 78.9, demonstrating a more positive outlook on the current economy.
"The recent gains are encouraging even though they were largely due to upper income households. Indeed, the data indicate that lower income households face continued income and job losses compared with the modest gains expected by upper income households," said Richard Curtin, Surveys of Consumers chief economist, in a statement. "Without a renewed federal stimulus and enhanced unemployment payments, the income gap will widen."
Here's how the market closed on another wild week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Major Stock News, mega-cap tech shares led broader market declines throughout Friday's session as investors digested a potential Democratic swap in the upcoming election: Amazon
For Sector Performance, industries ended Friday's session mixed as investors looked for direction amid heavily clouded outlook. The sectors that saw positive performance gains included: Real Estate +1.58%, Utilities +1.13%, Industrials +1.09%, Energy +0.99%, Material +0.81% and Financials +0.70%. The rest that saw performance losses included: Information Technology -2.55%, Communication Services -1.99%, Consumer Discretionary -1.05%, Health Care -0.91%, and Consumer Staples -0.61%.
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar
For the week ahead, U.S as well as global markets will be impacted by updates to President Trump's health and the Congressional economic stimulus package.