September 22, 2023

Enterprise JM

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Stock Market Today: Stocks Rally on Encouraging Jobs Data

A relatively quiet day on Wall Street resulted in a win for stocks as bargain hunters swooped in following a stretch of losses for the major market indexes. The recent spate of selling was sparked by worries that the Federal Reserve will keep hiking interest rates and hold them higher for longer as the U.S. economy continues to show signs of strength. However, this morning’s weekly jobless claims data hinted that the Fed’s aggressive policy could finally be starting to slow the labor market – and gave investors a much-needed silver lining of hope.  

Specifically, data from the Labor Department showed weekly jobless claims rose slightly to 230,000 last week, which was in line with economists’ estimates. Continuing claims increased by 62,000 to 1.67 million, or the most since February.