Good morning and welcome to the stock market today! In a major move, the U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June. This is much better than expectations for 700,000 jobs, although the month also saw the unemployment rate increase slightly from 5.8% to 5.9%. Although concerns over the labor market remain, Wall Street seems excited heading into a long weekend. So with that in mind, what will the stock market do today?

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So what else will the stock market do today? Here are some of the top stories.

• The S&P 500 is up 0.31%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.13%
• The Nasdaq Composite is up 0.27%

P.S. The stock market will be closed on Monday, July 5. Check back with InvestorPlace on Tuesday for more of your favorite market coverage!

What Will the Stock Market Do Today? Praise Branson.

The battle of the billionaires rages on, and as of Friday morning, Richard Branson is winning.

The billionaire founder of Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) just announced he will fly on a company ship to space on July 11. While this is a milestone on its own, it also means that he will beat Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos by just nine days. Bezos previously made waves when he announced he would join Blue Origin in space just a few weeks after stepping down from his role at Amazon.

Now, Branson has a leg up. Just last week, his company secured regulatory approval to fly humans in space. Now, Branson will join two astronauts and four mission specialists in the fourth crewed spaceflight for Virgin Galactic. The flight itself will be brief — a 20-second test for the VSS Unity.

For those unfamiliar, Virgin Galactic made a splash in the public markets, promising to commercialize suborbital spaceflight. In recent months, the company has faced Covid-19 delays and test failures. However, with each successful crewed flight, it gets closer to commercial launch.

So what do you need to know?

Analysts have estimated that the commercial spaceflight market could be worth $3 billion by 2030, and right now, Virgin Galactic could be just three test flights away. However, the company faces big competition, and those competitors are close behind. If Branson and Virgin face any delays, Bezos could still beat him into space. Plus, Elon Musk and his SpaceX are right behind with bold plans.

Investors should also note that this has been a big week for other space startups. AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) skyrocketed thanks to bullish analyst coverage. Astra Space (NASDAQ:ASTR), which just made its trading debut, similarly soared thanks to its rocket tech.

Welcome to the Hellscape

One vision for the summer of 2021 is filled with international travel, fruity cocktails and backyard barbeques packed with family and friends. This vision rests on a lot of pent-up demand — and the successes of Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

For investors, this vision brings with it a lot of opportunity. Hard-hit businesses like Carnival (NYSE:CCL) and American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) will benefit from a travel resurgence. Hotels and Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) will similarly benefit. Restaurants like Krispy Kreme (NASDAQ:DNUT) are hot ahead of a return to morning commutes. Casinos, condom makers, dating apps and apparel retailers are all cashing in on emotional consumers who are ready to get back to normal.

This is the Hot Vax Summer that Wall Street has been waiting for.

But with deadly heat waves rocking the world this week, we could instead be in for a hellscape summer, as Andrew Freedman wrote for Axios this morning. Roads are buckling, power cables are melting, not enough homes have air conditioning. Those air conditioners in turn contribute carbon emissions. Droughts and wildfires are plaguing the country, and the world. New York City residents just received an emergency notification warning them to cut power use.

So what is the bottom line in such a hellscape summer? The first takeaway, as Freedman highlights, is that things may not get better anytime soon. The second takeaway is a cautionary one for investors. With major indices at all-time-high levels and the stock market powering ahead, there is no reason for panic. However, as many experts have argued recently, the market may not be that resilient now. A summer marked by the dangerous effects of climate change could see Wall Street panic.

What Else We’re Watching

• The big news yesterday was that Robinhood finally filed for its initial public offering, planning to trade as HOOD on the Nasdaq Exchange. Between the lines, several astute investors have found an interesting risk. In its S-1, Robinhood highlights that Dogecoin (CCC:DOGE-USD) represents 34% of its crypto trading revenue, up from 4% in Q4 2020. That means the company says a dip in Dogecoin trading demand could negatively impact its business.
• This will be a big summer for video-based social media platforms. TikTok just announced it will roll out 3-minute videos, allowing creators to produce longer-form content. Instagram also announced it will further integrate videos on its platform. This comes as the Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) platform recognized a key shift from photo to video.
• Earlier this week, Compass Pathways (NASDAQ:CMPS) announced it had reached a milestone in its clinical trials. The company has now administered psilocybin to 216 patients in its trial evaluating psychedelics for treatment-resistant depression. This is the largest such study in the entire world.
• Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) just announced that it delivered more than 200,000 vehicles in the second quarter, setting a new record for the EV giant. Investors should note Tesla stock is up 2.8% in morning trading.

On the date of publication, Sarah Smith did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.