Stocks started the day in the red as investors reacted to "good news," namely the better than expected jobs report, as "bad news" for the odds that the Federal Reserve will be aggressive with its rate setting policies when it meets again at the end of this month. As bonds found their footing, stocks came off their lows, paring their losses for most of the session, though the major averages still finished the day below where they'd close on the holiday-shortened session on Wednesday.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., nonfarm payrolls jumped 224,000 in June, which was stronger than the 160,000 job additions that were expected. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.7% from the 49-year low of 3.6% reported in May. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2% month-over-month and 3.1% year-over-year. While Fed funds futures have tumbled, the market has merely taken out the chances for an aggressive 50 basis point cut at the upcoming FOMC meeting and remains fully priced for a 25 basis point easing.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White house that the Federal Reserve "doesn't know what they are doing" and reiterated his view that the Fed should lower rates.
TOP NEWS: On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Amazon (AMZN), the company got a mild dose of bad news as the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority announced it is investigating the acquisition by the e-commerce giant of certain rights and a minority shareholding in Roofoods, trading as Deliveroo.
Garth Ritchie, President of Deutsche Bank (DB) and Head of the Corporate & Investment Bank, is leaving the bank by mutual agreement, the bank announced this morning. Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing will assume responsibility for the Corporate & Investment Bank on the Management Board. Meanwhile, Financial Times reported that Sewing is expected to ask his supervisory board this weekend to authorize a "radical restructuring" of the bank after five years of continuous decline in the group's investment banking business.
Meanwhile, President Trump told reporters that his administration is working on a "favored-nations clause," or a system that would allow the U.S. to purchase drugs based on the lowest prices paid by other countries. Publicly traded companies in the pharmaceutical space include AstraZeneca (AZN), Bristol-Myers (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Merck (MRK), Novartis (NVS), Pfizer (PFE), Roche (RHHBY) and Sanofi (SNY).
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was DBV Technologies (DBVT), which rose 10.2% after Bloomberg said there are expectations that the company will submit another biologic license application for its Viaskin Peanuts allergy patch to the FDA sometime during Q3. Also higher was GOL Linhas (GOL), which gained 17.2% in New York after reporting preliminary air traffic figures for the month of June.
Among the notable losers was Electronic Arts (EA), which slid 4.6% following this week's launch of Season 2 of "Apex Legends." Also lower was Nvidia (NVDA), which fell just over 1.5% after Forbes contributor Jason Evangelho said that the pricing for AMD's (AMD) Navi-based RX 5700 and RX 5700XT could "seriously disrupt" Nvidia's competitive plans.
INDEXES: The Dow fell 43.88, or 0.16%, to 26,922.12, the Nasdaq lost 8.44, or 0.1%, to 8,161.79, and the S&P 500 declined 5.41, or 0.18%, to 2,990.41.
iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index
-1.11 (-1.01%)
Amazon.com
+4.99 (+0.26%)
Deutsche Bank
+0.32 (+4.15%)
AstraZeneca
-1.04 (-2.48%)
Bristol Myers
-0.61 (-1.31%)
Eli Lilly
-2.57 (-2.23%)
GSK
-0.5299 (-1.28%)
Johnson & Johnson
-1.35 (-0.95%)
Merck
-1.04 (-1.20%)
Novartis
-2.01 (-2.17%)
Pfizer
-0.41 (-0.93%)
Roche
+ (+0.00%)
Sanofi
-0.63 (-1.43%)
DBV Technologies
+0.94 (+9.95%)
Gol Linhas
+2.95 (+16.34%)
Electronic Arts
-4.33 (-4.42%)
Nvidia
-2.305 (-1.42%)
AMD
+0.38 (+1.22%)