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

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.