US Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Dow Jones Edge Higher As Jobs Data Keeps Fed Bets Intact

The main US stock market indices advanced at open on Friday after release of the latest jobs data, wherein unemployment rate dipped more than expected. The market is also awaiting a potential US Supreme Court ruling on tariffs.

S&P 500 opened 0.14% or 10.03 points higher at 6,931.49, tech-heavy Nasdaq composite opened little changed at 23,493.88, and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22% or 108.87 points to trade at 49,374.98.

As of 10:03 a.m. EST, S&P traded 0.31% at 6,943.23, Dow Jones traded 0.10% higher at 49,316.35 and Nasdaq traded 0.06% at 23,492.

Even though unemployment rate inched down to 4.4%, against economists' forecast of 4.5% in December, the jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls increasing by 50,000, less than the 73,000 that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated. The sluggish growth has kept bets on a Federal Reserve rate cut intact, analysts said.

After the markets opened, all the sectoral indices barring one traded in the green. The Consumer Discretionary sector was the only one declining, while the Utilities sector and Industrials sector led the gains.

Notably, out of the magnificent seven stocks, only Google-parent Alphabet Inc. and Tesla Inc. traded higher. While Nvidia Corp., Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., and Microsoft Corp. ticked lower.

Alphabet rose 1.02% to trade at $328.86 and in contrast to this, Apple declined over 1% to trade at $256.

Spot gold prices rose 0.32% to $4,491.72 an ounce. Crude oil prices also edged higher, with West Texas Intermediate trading nearly 3% higher at $59.25 a barrel.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index strengthened against global currencies to rise 0.2%. The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1639, British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3417, and the Japanese yen fell 0.7% to 157.94 per dollar.

Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, fell 1% to $90,316.89.