S&P 500 Settles Lower But Market Volatility Eases Following Strong Jobs Report

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The U.S. economy added 528,000 jobs in July, beating consensus economist estimates of 258,000 jobs, while unemployment rate dropped from 3.6% to 3.5%, returning to its pre-COVID pandemic level. Both total nonfarm employment and the unemployment rate have now finally returned to their February 2020 pre-pandemic levels.

U.S. stocks, however, closed mixed on Friday, with Tesla Inc TSLA shares dipping around 6.7%, which weighed heavily on the S&P 500 index.

Shares of LYFT Inc LYFT, meanwhile, jumped around 17% on Friday after the company reported upbeat results for its second quarter. The company also saw active riders of 19.9 million last quarter, up 15.9% year-over-year.

The Dow Jones rose 0.23% to close at 32,803.47 on Friday, while the S&P 500 lost 0.16% to 4,145.19. The Nasdaq 100 dipped 0.78% to settle at 13,207.69 in the previous session.

Major sectors on the S&P 500 settled on a mixed note, with energy stocks recording the biggest increase on Friday. Consumer discretionary, however, was the worst performing sector in the previous session, dropping around 1.7%.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 1.4% to close at 21.15 points on Friday.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market’s expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.

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Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.