Wall Street falls after jobs data

NEW YORK, Aug 6, (AP): US stock indexes closed mostly lower Friday after a roller-coaster day following a blockbuster report on the U.S. jobs market that offered both good and bad news for Wall Street.

The benchmark S&P 500 ended just 0.2% lower after recovering from an early slide as investors reacted to the report, which showed that U.S. employers unexpectedly added hundreds of thousands more jobs than forecast last month.

The blistering data suggests the economy may not be in a recession, as feared. But it also undercuts investors’ speculation that a slowing economy may mean a peak for inflation soon. That means the Federal Reserve may not let up on its aggressive rate hikes to combat inflation as early as hoped. And much of Wall Street still revolves around expectations for rates.

“It’s a reminder for investors on how uncertain Fed policy is going forward and the strong jobs market data shows just how far the Fed has to go,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management.

Stocks of technology and other high-growth companies once again took the brunt of the selling amid the rising-rate worries. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite cut its early losses and closed down 63.03 points, or 0.5%, at 12,657.55.

The good news on the jobs market helped to limit losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, whose stocks tend to move more with expectations for the overall economy. It added 76.65 points, or 0.2%, to close at 32,803.47.

The S&P 500 slipped 6.75 points to end at 4,145.19. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted a gain for the week.

Beyond the nation’s strong hiring, wage growth for workers also unexpectedly accelerated last month. That’s helpful for households trying to keep up with the fastest price gains in 40 years. But it also raises worries on Wall Street that inflation will become more embedded in the economy.

Higher wages can cause companies to raise prices for their own products to sustain profits, which can lead to something economists call a “wage-price spiral.”

Wall Street’s clearest moves came from the bond market, where Treasury yields shot higher immediately after the release of the jobs data. The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to track expectations for Fed action, jumped to 3.23% from 3.05% late Thursday. The 10-year yield, which influences rates on mortgages, rose to 2.84% from 2.69%.

World stocks

In overseas stock markets, India’s Sensex rose 0.2% after the Reserve Bank of India raised its benchmark interest rate by a half percentage point to 5.4%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.9%, while Germany’s DAX fell 0.6%.

Oil

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for September delivery rose 47 cents to $89.01 a barrel Friday. Brent crude for October delivery rose 80 cents to $94.92 a barrel.

Wholesale gasoline for September delivery rose 7 cents to $2.86 a gallon. September heating oil fell 12 cents to $3.22 a gallon. September natural gas fell 6 cents to $8.06 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold

Gold for December delivery fell $15.70 to $1,791.20 an ounce. Silver for September delivery fell 28 cents to $19.84 an ounce and September copper rose 7 cents to $3.55 a pound.

Currencies

The dollar rose to 135.11 Japanese yen from 132.91 yen. The euro fell to $1.0178 from $1.0249.

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 6, (KUNA): The Commercial Bank of Kuwait (Al-Tijari) on Saturday announced net profits of KD 44 million (nearly USD 145 million) for the first half of 2022 and distributed dividends to shareholders at a rate of 22.2 fils per share.

The Bank’s operating revenues before provision rose by 1.9 percent to KD 65.3 million (some USD 215.5 million) in H1-2022 from KD 64.1 million (USD 211.5 million) in the corresponding period last year, according to a press release from the Bank.

The aggregate value of assets grew by 4.4 percent to

KD 4.3 billion (USD 14 billion) while the Bank’s capital adequacy rate went up to 18.4 percent.

Hailing the H1-2022 financial results, Chairman of AlTijari Sheikh Ahmad Duaij Al Sabah attributed the robust performance to the improvement of the business environment. The Bank was able to retrieve KD 12.3 million (USD 40.6 million) of the loan losses in the first half of the year, he noted.

Sheikh Ahmad Duaij expressed optimism about a bright outlook for the banking sector amid forecasts of 8.5 percent growth rate for Kuwait’s GDP.