Stocks were up as the latest news on employment turned out to be better than expected.
Futures on the
were up 57 points, or 0.2%. The
was up 0.3%, and the
gained 0.3%.
The U.S. economy added 916,000 jobs in March, beating expectations of 675,000 and up from 468,000 in February. As states lift coronavirus-related restriction and people spending their fiscal- stimulus checks, jobs are coming back at a brisk pace.
Trading activity was quiet; the market is closed for a holiday. Among individual stocks,
(NFLX) shares rose 0.25%. Piper Sandler initiated coverage of the stock with an Overweight rating.
(GILD) shares rose 0.2% after Alliance Bernstein upgraded the stock to Outperform from Market Perform.
(PSX) shares rose 0.2% even after analysts at Piper Sandler downgraded the stock to Neutral from Overweight. The price of oil was up more than 3% in premarket trading.
Shares of
(DDOG) rose 0.3% after Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral.
(SENS) shares rose 3% even after SVB Leerink downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform.
Write to Jacob Sonenshine at jacob.sonenshine@barrons.com
