Day Traders Diary

6/2/23

 The major averages rose sharply with the Dow having one its best days of the year following the May jobs report that showed some slowing in the inflation data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 701 points or 2.12%. The S&P 500 rose 61 points while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 139 points or 1.07% to 13,240, reaching its highest level since April 2022 during the session.

With Friday's gains, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished the holiday-shortened trading week about 1.8% and 2% higher, respectively. The Nasdaq notched its sixth straight week higher, a streak length not seen for the technology-heavy index since 2020. The Dow's big rally finally put the average into positive territory for the week, finishing up nearly 2% for the week. The Nasdaq notched its sixth straight week higher, a streak length not seen for the technology-heavy index since 2020.

The reason for the rally today was due to the May Nonfarm payrolls number. The new jobs report came in hotter than expected at 339,000, but the average hourly earnings rose less than economists expected while the unemployment rate was higher than anticipated.

The news data points are giving some hope to investors hope that the Fed could pause its interest rate hikes this month.  

The Senate passed the debt ceiling bill late Thursday night. Now it sonly needs the President to sign it.

The big rally today skipped the recent AI big cap tech stocks, moving money into the more economically sensitive sectors. The S&P 500 materials rose 3.4%, energy up 3% and industrials rose 3% as well. The small-cap Russell 2000 was the biggest winner among the major indices today, rallying 3.6% with the help of its bank and energy components.