The solid June jobs report is a good sign for the US economy. And investors mostly took the news in stride — even though it may have dashed Wall Street's hopes for a big rate cut from the Federal Reserve later this month.
The Dow finished Friday with a nearly 44-point loss after the government reported that 224,000 jobs were added last month — much better than expected. Although that snapped a four-day winning streak, the Dow ended the day well off its lows. The Dow fell as much as 233 points earlier Friday.The Nasdaq dipped 0.1% while the S&P 500 dropped about 0.2%. All three indexes closed at record highs in an abbreviated trading session Wednesday. US markets were closed Thursday for July 4th.
After Friday's job report, the likelihood of a half-point cut fell all the way to 5%. "The plot thickens with respect to the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates at the end of this month," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst with Bankrate.com, in a report. Still, it is highly unlikely that the Fed will just sit tight at its next meeting.
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