Shares held a second day on record on Friday as investors rated expectations for more economic stimulus following a weakening U.S. jobs report.
A report in the Washington Post states that Joe Manchin, a senator in West Virginia, is opposed to offering Americans $ 2,000 stimulus checks, which creates an obstacle to the election of President Bid to promote the stimulus measures.
Biden promised that greater aid tests would be delivered to Americans if the Democrats won the Senate by-elections in Georgia, which they did earlier this week.
Biden said in a televised speech on Friday that a weaker-than-expected U.S. job report shows that the need for more economic stimulus is ‘now’.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average averaged 56 points, or 0.18%, at 31,097. The S&P 500 rose 0.55% to 3,824, and the Nasdaq rose 1.03% to 13,201.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also set intraday records during Friday’s session.
For the week, Dow Industries rose 1.6%, the S&P 500 added 1.8% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.4%.
The U.S. lost 140,000 jobs in December, the first drop in employment since April, as Covid-19 cases increased and stricter restrictions were placed on people and businesses.
Leasing slows down in December amid yet another increase in coronavirus infections. Economists polled by FactSet expected the US to add 100,000 jobs in December, although many experts predicted a contraction.
The unemployment rate in December remained constant at 6.7%.
“In one line: grim, and probably not much better before spring,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Shepherdson said the job report tells a story consistent with the increase in Covid cases in recent months, and the limitations of trying to curb the pandemic. He noted that jobs in leisure and hospitality fell by 498,000 in December.
Boeing (BA) – Get report the shares fell 1.3% to $ 210 after the aircraft maker agreed to pay a $ 2.5 billion fine for fraud and conspiracy costs associated with its 737 MAX jet program.
A new study has suggested that the vaccine developed by Pfizer (PFE) – Get report and BioNTech (BNTX) – Get report can provide protection against mutations found in new, rapidly spreading variants of the coronavirus discovered in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The report, conducted by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch and supported by Pfizer and BioNTech, found that antibodies from vaccine recipients successfully repel the virus in laboratory dishes. The study has not yet been reviewed by experts.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus were 367,635. The U.S. reported a daily record of more than 4,000 deaths on Thursday.