Stock market news live updates: Stock futures drift ahead of April jobs report

The Nasdaq advanced, after the disappointing economic data appeared to make a case for monetary policy to stay on hold and interest rates to stay low, supporting tech and growth stocks.

employers brought back just 266,000 jobs in April, whereas a gain of at least 1 million had been expected.

economy remained 8.2 million payrolls short of pre-pandemic levels, and both the unemployment rate and labor force participation are still off from their February 2020 levels.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has suggested he would want to see a “string” of strong payroll gains totaling more than 1 million before the central bank considers adjusting its ultra-accommodative monetary policy posturing.

“The smaller rise in payrolls should at least assuage some concerns around the Fed policy outlook,” Seema Shah, Chief Strategist at Principal Global Investors, wrote in an email Friday morning.

Heading into the report, investors had been contemplating improvements in other economic data with both optimism about the post-pandemic rebound and trepidation over the implications for monetary policy, with persistently strong data likely to bolster the case for the Fed to ease up on policies that had supported the recovery as well as asset prices.

The information technology, communication services and consumer discretionary sectors led gains in the blue-chip index, outperforming as Treasury yields retreated.

“On a day like today, you’re seeing that pullback in the 10-year rate, you’re seeing that pullback in the U.S.

But I do think we’re going to see this short-term reaction where it’s a bounce-back between value and growth, defense and offense, and I think on a day like today you’re seeing more of that defense.

employers brought back just 266,000 jobs in April, sharply missing consensus economists’ expectations for a rise of 1 million, according to Bloomberg data.

In the goods-producing sector, manufacturing jobs unexpectedly dropped by 18,000 whereas a rise of 54,000 had been expected, marking the first net decline in these payrolls since January.

Meanwhile, leisure and hospitality jobs rose by 331,000, adding to a gain of 206,000 payrolls in March and 413,000 in February.

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