S&P 500 Gives Up Early Week Gains Following Latest Jobs Report: Is A Recession Looming?

After a strong two-day rally to start October, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY gave up some of its gains on Friday following a mixed U.S. jobs report.

The Labor Department reported the U.S. economy added 263,000 jobs last month, exceeding average economist estimates of 250,000 jobs. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, clearing the path for the Federal Reserve to continue aggressively raising interest rates to combat inflation.

In a change of course on Thursday, Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said in a court filing that he intends to acquire Twitter Inc TWTR at his original offer price of $54.20 per share and wants Twitter to drop its lawsuit against him.

Twitter shares rallied 22% on the news, and Musk now has until Oct. 28 to close the $44-billion deal he initially attempted to back out of and avoid a trial.

On Wednesday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, announced it will be cutting oil production by 2 million barrels per day, sending WTI crude oil prices higher by more than 3% on Friday to above $91 per barrel. OPEC's largest supply cut since 2020 will decrease oil supply in an already tight global energy market.

Cannabis stocks Tilray Inc TLRY and Curaleaf Holdings Inc CURLF each jumped more than 30% on Thursday after President Joe Biden issued a pardon for all federal crimes related to simple marijuana possession.

Biden also called on the secretary of Health and Human Services to review how marijuana is scheduled as a controlled substance under federal law, potentially opening the door for it to be reclassified or removed from the controlled substance list completely.

Tilray Burnout: Tilray gave up a large portion of its Thursday gains and traded lower on Friday after the company reported its net losses nearly doubled from a year ago in its fiscal first quarter.

In the week ahead, third-quarter earnings season kicks off with quarterly reports from big banks Morgan Stanley MS, Wells Fargo & Co WFC, JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM and Citigroup Inc C on Friday.

Analysts are expecting S&P 500 companies to report 2.9% earnings growth and 8.7% revenue growth in the third quarter, according to FactSet.

Economic Numbers: Next week, investors will get key economic updates on Wednesday when the Federal Open Market Committee releases its latest meeting minutes and on Thursday when the U.S. Labor Department releases its September consumer price index inflation reading.

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