The May Jobs Report showed businesses are consistently hiring individuals that exceeded Wall Street expectations, as the unemployment rate came in at 4.2 percent. This caught market participants off guard, fueling another day of gains. The S&P 500 rose by 1 percent, while the Nasdaq 100 finished the day higher by 1 percent as well.
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S&P 500
Nasdaq 100
News of Treasury Secretary Bessent’s meeting with Chinese negotiators in London on Monday bolstered optimism. Fears of tariff driven economic recession continue to lack any momentum to give the bears fuel to the downside.
The stronger jobs data pressured the bond market, as the 10 year interest rate traded above the key 4.5 percent level.
10 Year Interest Rate
The robust jobs figures, to President Trump’s frustration, give the Federal Reserve more time to assess tariff impacts and reasons to delay rate cuts. The data supports a soft economic landing with cooling inflation, and markets now expect two rate cuts by the end of the year. Bitcoin rallied over 2.4 percent but closed near its daily low.
Bitcoin
Despite ongoing skepticism from the bears thesis about tariffs causing economic weakness, the slowdown remains mild compared to previous forecasts from market pundits early this year. The stock market continues to climb the wall of worry as my opinion is there are still many market players that are looking for the stock indexes to retest lows from earlier this year.
Over the years, I've observed many traders develop a rigid methodology for reading daily tape action, and miss out on major opportunities because the markets are not behaving the way they want it to. Always remember the markets do not know you exist, and always keep an open mind to how you navigate the markets.
Many bulls are complaining that they are underpositioned, looking for selloffs to buy stocks and avoid missing out on further gains. Strong markets continue to resist significant pullbacks, frustrating those waiting for a dip, as the stock indexes continue to trade higher towards all time highs.
DAILY DINGERS
MSFT Microsoft Buy Range $468.30 - $472.00
Stock trading at new high above breakout buy point
SFM Sprouts Farmers Market Buy Point $178.92
Stock trading below breakout buy point
DASH Doordash Buy Range $115.25 - $120.00
Stock trading above breakout buy point
