U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 300 points on Friday.

The Dow traded up 0.30% to 54,048.67 while the NASDAQ rose 1.20% to 26,663.54. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.58% to 7,754.64.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Materials shares jumped by 1.5% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, energy stocks fell by 1.4%.

Top Headline

The U.S. labor market unexpectedly weakened in July as a surge in government layoffs pushed overall job growth into negative territory.

Nonfarm payrolls contracted by 23,000 in July, against a consensus estimate of 83,000 and down from June’s downwardly revised 20,000, data published Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed.

The unemployment rate came in at 4.1%, versus the 4.2% economists expected.

Equities Trading UP
         

• Doximity Inc (NYSE:DOCS) shares shot up 39% to $28.64 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales results and raised its FY27 sales guidance above estimates.
• Shares of QuinStreet Inc (NASDAQ:QNST) got a boost, surging 38% to $20.98 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued first-quarter sales guidance above estimates.
• Atlassian Corp (NASDAQ:TEAM) shares were also up, gaining 37% to $151.11 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issued FY27 sales guidance above estimates

Equities Trading DOWN

• Sezzle Inc (NASDAQ:SEZL) shares dropped 35% to $115.63 after the company reported second-quarter financial results
• Shares of Nlight Inc (NASDAQ:LASR) were down 24% to $57.35 after the company reported second-quarter results.
• Quidelortho Corp (NASDAQ:QDEL) was down, falling 24% to $12.46 after the company reported second-quarter financial results and cut its FY26 guidance below estimates.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded up 0.5% to $77.65 while gold traded up 2.4% at $4,400.70.

Silver traded up 3.5% to $63.775 on Friday, while copper fell 1.6% to $6.6045.

Euro zone

European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 gained 0.31%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index slipped 0.02% London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.31%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.69%, while France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.17%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling 0.12%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gaining 0.54%, China’s Shanghai Composite rising 1.02% and India’s BSE Sensex falling 0.58%.

Economics

• Nonfarm payrolls contracted by 23,000 in July, against a consensus estimate of 83,000 and down from June’s downwardly revised 20,000, data published Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed.
• The unemployment rate came in at 4.1%, versus the 4.2% economists expected.
• Average hourly earnings rose 0.1% on the month, missing the 0.3% expected, and 3.2% from a year earlier, below the 3.5% predicted.

Photo via Shutterstock