- US stocks started July logging losses as traders parsed a batch of labor market readouts.
- The S&P 500 fell 1.2% during the holiday week, while the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%. The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 4.94% on Friday.
Investors were digesting government employment data that fell short of expectations but showed that wage inflation remained a threat to the Fed's fight against price increases. Overall, the data showed signs of a schism in the American labour market, just a day after a private payrolls report suggested resilience warranting several more rate hikes. Instead, traders have returned to expecting the Fed to raise interest rates at its meeting later this month. This year's chances of another hike were less than 50%.
- Among notable movers, Levi Strauss & Co. fell sharply after lowering its outlook for the year while electric-vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive Inc. climbed for the eighth-straight session.
- Fed's Goolsbee left the door open for more data to sway officials ahead the central bank’s next meeting. “We’re getting to a more sustainable pace, which is what we need to do for inflation,” Goolsbee said of Friday jobs data in an interview on CNBC.
