Economic Events and Earnings for September 8

Published: Fri, 09/05/14

The stock market finished a cautious week on a modestly higher note. The S&P 500 added 0.5%, ending the week with a slim gain of 0.2%, while the Russell 2000 (+0.3%) shed 0.2% for the week.

This morning, the Nonfarm Payrolls report for August revealed the addition of 142,000 payrolls, while the Briefing.com consensus expected a reading closer to 223,000. Interestingly, this was followed by a rally in equity futures with investors viewing the report as an argument in favor of the Fed potentially delaying its first rate hike.

Equity indices slipped from their opening levels, but the S&P 500 found support near the 1990 mark, which served as resistance in July and provided support over the past two weeks. The benchmark index tested the area around 10:45 ET and spent the remainder of the session in a slow climb to new highs.

All ten sectors finished in the green, but health care (+0.6%) contributed to the opening weakness. The countercyclical sector was pressured by Gilead Sciences (GILD 105.36, -1.50) in the early going with the stock down 8.7% at its worst point of the session. Shares of GILD narrowed their loss to 1.4% by the close, while theiShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 270.60, -0.32) shed 0.1% after being down as much as 2.0%. Furthermore, the ETF logged its fourth consecutive decline, ending the week lower by 2.2%.

The underperformance of the biotech space kept the Nasdaq Composite behind the S&P 500, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq still drew a good bit of strength from the technology sector (+0.7%), which outperformed throughout the day. Components of all sizes contributed to the advance with Apple ( AAPL 98.97, +0.85), Facebook (FB 77.26, +1.31), and Microsoft (MSFT 45.90, +0.64) gaining between 0.9% and 1.7%. High-beta chipmakers also displayed strength with the PHLX Semiconductor Index climbing 0.9%.

Even though technology spent the day in the green, it was the utilities sector (+1.2%) that finished in the lead.

Treasuries rallied following today's Nonfarm Payrolls report, but surrendered all of their gains during the day. The 10-yr yield ended at 2.45%.

Participation was below average with roughly 600 million shares changing hands at the NYSE.

Taking a closer look at the details of today's jobs report:

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 142,000 (Briefing.com consensus 223,000)
- July nonfarm payrolls revised to 212,000 from 209,000
- June nonfarm payrolls revised to 267,000 from 298,000
Private sector payrolls increased by 134,000 (Briefing.com consensus 200,000)
- July private payrolls revised to 213,000 from 198,000
- June private payrolls revised to 260,000 from 270,000
Unemployment rate was 6.1% (Briefing.com consensus 6.1%) versus 6.2% in July
Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) after being unchanged in July
The average workweek was 34.5 hours (Briefing.com consensus 34.5) for the sixth consecutive month
The labor force participation rate was 62.8% versus 62.9% in July

Monday's economic data will be limited to the Consumer Credit report for July (Briefing.com consensus $17.80 billion), which will cross the wires at 15:00 ET.