Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images
- US stocks surged on Tuesday after new jobs data took some pressure off of interest rates.
- The Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey showed 8.827 million job openings in July, the third month of declines.
- Fewer job openings is a signal the Fed is looking for in its bid to cool the economy and tame inflation.
US stocks surged on Tuesday with the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 logging their best performing day of what has been a weak August.
Stocks jumped after the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, better known as JOLTS, showed 8.827 million job openings in July, well below economist estimates of 9.465 million. That represents the third straight monthly decline for JOLTS and the lowest JOLTS reading in almost two and a half years.
A decline in JOLTS means wage pressures should begin to ease, which would give the Federal Reserve some breathing room in its interest rate plans. Technology stocks led the charge higher on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq 100 jumping more than 2%.
Investors will now turn their attention to the most anticipated dataset this week: the August jobs report, which will be released Friday morning. Economists are expecting a net gain of 186,000 in August, which would represent a marked slowdown from the post-pandemic job gains seen throughout 2021 and 2022 and likely take even more pressure off of interest rates.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Tuesday:
- S&P 500: 4,497.77, up 1.45%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,852.94, up 0.85% (+292.96 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 13,943.76, up 1.74%
Here's what else happened today:
- China's economy is expected to continue to weaken after economists slashed their 2023 GDP estimate for the country to 5.1%.
- Short-seller Jim Chanos called electric vehicle maker VinFast a "$200 billion meme stock" that would be lucky if they sold 40,000 cars this year.
- A fast-food worker used $200,000 of advanced credit to buy Tesla, GameStop and other stocks - even though he had just 9 cents in his bank account.
- Bitcoin soared after Grayscale won its lawsuit against the SEC, in which it was vying to convert its bitcoin trust into an ETF.
- Another inflation wave may be coming as big government spending and high energy costs push prices up, former White House economist says.
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.42% to $81.24 a barrel. Brent, the international benchmark, jumped 1.29% to $85.51 a barrel.
- Gold jumped 0.98% to $1,965.90 per ounce.
- The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell nine basis points to 4.11%.
- Bitcoin soared 6.85% to $27,856.