Markets:
- West Texas Intermediate crude fell 7 cents to $94.76
- The yield on US 10-year bonds fell by 3.2 basis points to 4.36%.
- The price of gold rose $30 to $4,716
- The S&P 500 rose 0.8%.
- The British pound is advancing, and the dollar is lagging
Tech optimism peaked with the Nasdaq rising for the sixth straight week, adding 30% at the time and another 5% this week. Chip names continued to rise with Micron shares up 15% and Intel shares up 14% among others. Enthusiasm for artificial intelligence greatly outweighs any concerns about oil prices or rising interest rates.
As for oil prices, they ended the day flat after rising earlier. A late Wall Street Journal report noted progress on a 14-point, one-page plan to set parameters for a month of negotiations on nuclear weapons, sanctions and other issues. The day started with US attacks on parts of Iran but Trump described them as minor and that was enough for the rest of the market to forget about them.
Regarding rate hikes, the second strong jobs report in a row highlights how Kevin Warsh will have a tough time promoting rate cuts this year. The continued boom in stock markets is also adding to the strength of consumer spending in the United States. The only cautious parts of the report were slightly weaker than expected wage growth and a decline in labor force participation, which has fallen by more than 1 percentage point since 2024.
The US dollar fell across the board but it had more to do with war optimism than the jobs report.
The Canadian dollar rose against the US dollar but struggled elsewhere as April jobs were weak and included a further rise in the unemployment rate.
Have a wonderful weekend.
