Jobs Jar the Markets — Friday’s IP Market Recap
by Marc Bastow | May 4, 2012 4:50 pm
[1]Investors took it on the chin Friday as a disappointing jobs report sent the markets down to the canvas, where they never recovered.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 1.27% at 13,038, with the S&P 500 falling 1.61% to 1,369, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq taking a powder at 2,956, down 2.25%.
More than half the Dow components took plunges of 1% or worse on the day, with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC[2]) shedding 3% on news that the company will cut 2,000 jobs. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM[3]) followed its banking neighbor down 2.93%.
The Labor Department showed 115,000 new jobs created in April, a far cry from the 160,000 jobs forecast by economists, and well behind revised March numbers of 154,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 8.1% as 342,000 workers dropped out of the labor force. At this point, the portion of the working-age population participating in the job market is 63.6%, the lowest level since 1981.
Oil prices dipped below $100 per barrel and the average price of gas at the pump now stands at $3.80. Lower demand and stability in Iran contributed to the fall, a welcome sight heading into the summer season.
LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD[4]) announced on Thursday[5] that its net income and revenues jumped in the first quarter. LinkedIn also said that it had agreed to buy SlideShare, a business content sharing site, for about $119 million. LNKD was up sharply on the news, rising 7% to $119, one of the few good-news moves of the day.
Three Up
- LeapFrog (NYSE:LF[6]): Up 14.7% ($1.32) to $10.30 (Read more about LeapFrog here[7]).
- Renren (NYSE:RENN[8]): Up 5.7% (36 cents) to $6.70.
- United Continental (NYSE:UAL[9]): Up 3.3% (71 cents) to $22.28.
Three Down
- Nokia (NYSE:NOK[10]): Down 11% (39 cents) to $22.28.
- Arena Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:ANRA[11]): Down 6.5% (18 cents) to $2.60.
- Amko (NASDAQ:AMKR[12]): Down 5.5% (27 cents) to $4.63.
Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
- [Image]: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/investorplace-market-recap/
- BAC: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=BAC
- JPM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=JPM
- LNKD: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=LNKD
- announced on Thursday: https://investorplace.com/2012/05/another-sizzling-quarter-for-linkedin/
- LF: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=LF
- Read more about LeapFrog here: https://investorplace.com/2012/05/leapfroggin-the-competition-in-school-lf-has-mat/
- RENN: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=RENN
- UAL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=UA
- NOK: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=NOK
- ANRA: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=ANRA
- AMKR: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AMKR
Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/05/a-loss-on-jobs-and-markets-fridays-ip-market-recap-bac-jpm-lnkd-lf/