[New York Stock Market] Meta Surges... Dow and S&P 500 Reach All-Time Highs

The major indices of the New York Stock Exchange hit new all-time highs again as January nonfarm payrolls surged and Meta's stock price soared.

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On the 2nd (Eastern Time), at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 38,654.42, up 134.58 points (0.35%) from the previous session, and the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index closed at 4,958.61, up 52.42 points (1.07%). Both indices set new all-time highs. The Dow has reached new all-time highs nine times so far this year. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq index closed at 15,628.95, up 267.31 points (1.74%) from the previous session.

On this day, the U.S. stock market's upward momentum was driven by strong earnings reports from major U.S. tech companies such as Meta. Meta's stock price rose more than 20% in a single day after reporting earnings that exceeded expectations and announcing its first-ever quarterly dividend. Amazon, which reported earnings the previous day, also saw its stock price rise nearly 8% on better-than-expected results. In contrast, Apple's stock price closed down about 0.5% due to a decline in sales in China.

U.S. economic indicators also showed strength. The January nonfarm payrolls, released before the market opened, significantly exceeded expectations. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nonfarm employment increased by 353,000 in January compared to the previous month. This nearly doubled the 185,000 increase forecasted by experts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). The January nonfarm employment increase was the largest in a year since January last year (482,000). The December figure was also revised upward from an initial 216,000 increase to 333,000, an upward adjustment of 117,000. The November figure was revised from 173,000 to 182,000.

The unemployment rate for January remained steady at 3.7% for the third consecutive month. Average hourly wages in January rose 0.6% from the previous month and 4.5% year-over-year. These figures also exceeded market expectations of 0.3% and 4.1% increases, respectively.

Following Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell's remarks that interest rate cuts are unlikely in March, and with strong economic indicators such as employment and wages, expectations for rate cuts have significantly diminished. The probability of a Fed rate cut in March has fallen to around 20%, and the likelihood of the first rate cut in May has dropped to about 70%, down from over 90% the previous day.