Dow Dips 500 Points; US Economy Adds 256,000 Jobs In December

U.S. stocks traded lower this morning, with the Dow Jones index falling around 500 points on Friday.

The Dow traded down 1.18% to 42,130.51 while the NASDAQ dipped 1.54% to 19,178.72. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.26% to 5,843.63.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Energy shares rose by 0.6% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, information technology shares tumbled by 2.1%.

Top Headline

The labor market ended 2024 on a strong note, adding 256,000 jobs in December, exceeding economist forecasts and showcasing once again the resilience of the U.S. economy.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 256,000 last month, up from the downwardly revised 212,000 in November and sharply surpassing economist expectations of 160,000 payrolls as tracked by TradingEconomics.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Conduit Pharmaceuticals Inc (CDT) shares shot up 79% to $0.15.
• Shares of Vision Marine Technologies Inc (VMAR) got a boost, surging 73% to $2.63 as it regained compliance with Nasdaq's minimum stockholders' equity requirement, which it previously failed to meet. Vision Marine (VMAR) partnered with Calip Group to produce advanced cooling plates for electric boat batteries.
• DatChat Inc (DATS) shares were also up, gaining 48% to $4.75 after the company announced the pricing of a $5.1 million registered direct offering priced at-the-market under Nasdaq rules.

Equities Trading DOWN

• IGM Biosciences Inc (IGMS) shares dropped 69% to $1.89 after the company announced it is halting further development of Imvotamab and IGM-2644.
• Shares of XTI Aerospace Inc (XTIA) were down 54% to $5.84. XTI Aerospace (XTIA) recently announced a $20 million offering of 363,636,364 shares at $0.055 per share.
• 22nd Century Group Inc (XXII) was down, falling 39% to $4.97.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 4.1% to $76.98 while gold traded up 1.4% at $2,728.00.

Silver traded up 1.9% to $31.590 on Friday, while copper rose 0.6% to $4.3335.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 0.6%, Germany's DAX 40 fell 0.2% and France's CAC 40 dipped 0.4%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 1.2%, while London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.7%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 1.05%, China's Shanghai Composite Index dipping 1.33%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declining 0.92% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.31%.

Economics

• Nonfarm payrolls rose by 256,000 last month, up from the downwardly revised 212,000 in November and sharply surpassing economist expectations of 160,000 payrolls as tracked by TradingEconomics.
• The unemployment rate fell from 4.2% to 4.1%, beating forecasts of an unchanged reading.
• Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% month-over-month in December, matching expectations but slowing from November's 0.4%. On a year-over-year basis, wages increased 3.9%, slightly below of the 4% forecast.

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