The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 28,323.40 on Friday with a loss of 66.78 points or -0.24%. The S&P 500 closed at 3,509.44 for a loss of 1.01 points or -0.03%. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 11,895.23 for a gain of 4.30 points or 0.04%. The VIX Volatility Index was lower at 24.86 for a loss of 2.72 points or -9.86%.
For the week, the Dow Jones gained 6.9%, the S&P 500 gained 7.3% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 9%. For the year, the Nasdaq is up 32.57%, the S&P 500 is up 8.63% and the Dow Jones is down 0.52%.
Friday's market movers
U.S. indexes ended flat Friday after a four-day election rally. Votes continued to be counted with no official presidential winner yet.
The October employment report was a top headline for the day, with the following results:
- Non-farm payrolls increased 638,000 following an increase of 672,000 and beating the estimate of 510,000.
- Unemployment rate decreased to 6.9% from 7.9%.
- Private nonfarm payrolls increased 906,000 following an increase of 892,000 and beating the estimate of 630,000.
- Average hourly earnings increased 0.1% in October and 4.5% year over year.
- Average weekly hours were unchanged at 34.8.
- Government payrolls decreased 268,000.
- Participation rate increased to 61.7% from 61.4%.
- Manufacturing payrolls increased 38,000 following an increase of 60,000.
In other news:
- Daily Coronavirus cases increased to over 121,000.
- Joe Biden seems to have the lead in most unannounced states.
- Wholesale inventories increased 0.4% in September following an increase of 0.5%.
- The weekly Baker Hughes oil rig count showed an increase of four rigs in the U.S., no change in Canada and a decrease of 46 rigs internationally.
- Consumer credit outstanding increased $16.21 billion in September following a decrease of $6.93 billion.
Across the board:
- Cannabis stocks led sector gains with the Global X Cannabis ETF (POTX, Financial) up 12.62%.
- Aurora Cannabis (ACB, Financial) +56.39%
- Tilray (TLRY, Financial) +23.15%
- Alexandria Advantage (AAWC, Financial) +124.14%
- Coty (COTY, Financial) +21.97%
- Square (SQ, Financial) +12.83%
- Roku (ROKU, Financial) +12.57%
Small-cap stocks
In small caps, the Russell 2000 closed at 1,644.16 for a loss of 15.89 points or -0.96%. The S&P 600 closed at 925.22 for a loss of 9.72 points or -1.04%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Growth Index closed at 11,693.26 for a loss of 60.86 points or -0.52%. The Dow Jones U.S. Small-Cap Value Index closed at 7,322.92 for a loss of 110.74 points or -1.49%.
Other notable indexes
Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 2,026.95 for a loss of 10.18 points or -0.50%; the S&P 100 at 1,620.89 for a loss of 0.34 points or -0.021%; the Nasdaq 100 at 12,091.35 for a gain of 13.28 points or 0.11%; the Russell 3000 at 2,067.28 for a loss of 1.18 points or -0.057%; the Russell 1000 at 1,962.60 for a loss of 0.019 points or -0.00096%; the Wilshire 5000 at 36,092.60 for a loss of 29.93 points or -0.083%; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 610.08 for a loss of 8.87 points or -1.43%.
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