Both the S&P 500 and NASDAQ rose to new all-time highs on Friday as Non-Farm Payrolls showed marginal growth in January.
The first NFP announcement of the year showed that payrolls increased by 49,000 jobs last month, which was just below the 50,000 jobs forecasted.
Data also revealed that more jobs were lost than initially expected in December showing that 227,000 jobs were lost instead of 140,000 as previously recorded.
As of writing the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were up 0.51% and 0.62% respectively.
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Oil prices hit one-year high
Crude oil prices continued to rise this week, climbing to their highest level in over one-year as markets grow optimistic on future energy demand.
The news from Russia that its Sputnik V vaccine had an efficacy rate of over 90% helped oil prices rise, with new data also revealing that the AstraZeneca vaccine also worked with a new variant of the virus.
Prices rose to an intraday high of $57.25, which is the highest level prices have been since January 24th.
Earlier in the week OPEC+ also stuck to their supply tightening policy at a meeting on Wednesday, many now wait to see if prices of WTI could rally to $60 per barrel.
GameStop rebounds to end the week
After falling substantially earlier on in the week, GameStop stock rallied on Friday as brokers continue to loosen restrictions.
Prices of the now cult stock climbed by as much as 35% on Friday, after the stock fell below $100 for the first time since last week’s frenzy.
Many believe today’s surge comes as Robinhood announced that they are now allowing users to trade as much as 500 shares in GameStop at any one time.
The company also announced users can trade as much as 5,500 shares in $AMC.
As of writing $GME was trading at $60.09 after giving up early gains that had put the share price briefly back to $95.
Quote of the day – “Trade the market in front of you, not the one you want!”
– Scott Redler
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