Dow breaks the 29,000 threshold for first time
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared past 29,000 for the first time ever on Friday, hitting a new record as the historic bull market tears higher in the new year.
- The 30-stock index climbed 48 points higher to breach the psychological threshold, driven by gains in Pfizer, Apple, and Coca-Cola.
- The surge follows a Friday morning jobs report that came in below analyst expectations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 145,000 nonfarm payrolls were created in December, falling under the 160,000 projection.
- Watch the Dow Jones Industrial Average here.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged past 29,000 for the first time ever on Friday, notching a new record for the historically long bull market.
The 30-stock index climbed 48 points higher to break through the psychological level, trading higher despite a disappointing December jobs report. Pfizer led the Dow with a 1.7% gain, followed by Apple and Coca-Cola's rising shares.
The S&P 500 jumped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.3%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that 145,000 nonfarm payrolls were created last month, falling below analyst expectations of 160,000. The report brought total 2019 job gains to 2.1 million, falling in line with projections but below 2018's 2.7 million increase.
The report also revealed the US unemployment rate maintaining its half-century low of 3.5%. Pay growth grew faster than inflation through the last month of 2019, but still fell behind its pace from earlier in the year. Average hourly earnings jumped 2.9% from the year-ago period, slowing from November.
"Pay growth remains the one aspect of the job market that still hasn't fully recovered in the decade since the Great Recession," Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist at job-search site Glassdoor, said.
The weaker-than-expected labor market figures serve as an unexpected miss for US economic data after months of healthy results. The Federal Reserve is holding its key interest rate after using a trio of cuts in 2019 to stimulate the slowing economy. Though some may view the job report as an early harbinger for future cuts, Friday's figures shouldn't get any investors' hopes up, former Federal Reserve staffer Josh Wright said.
"It would take job growth below 100,000 to rattle the Fed into considering more rate cuts, and, even then, the stall would need to be sustained for about three months," Wright, who now serves as the chief economist at the recruiting-software firm iCIMS, said.
Stocks breached record highs on Thursday as waning tensions between the US and Iran boosted risk assets. President Trump announced Thursday that Iran "appears to be standing down" after a retaliatory missile barrage hit two Iraqi bases housing US troops. The comments sparked a relief rally that pushed equities above 2020 lows.
The Dow stood at 28,953.60 as of 10:50 a.m. ET Friday, up about 1.8% year-to-date.
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