Weekly Market Recap Feb 5, 2017

The week that was…

Three very quiet days were bookend-ed by moderate moves on Monday (down) and Friday (up). This despite a lot of generally market moving events such as a Federal Reserve meeting and the monthly employment data. Major NASDAQ names ala Apple, Amazon, Facebook took the stage midweek and Trump’s comments about rolling back Dodd-Frank reforms Friday helped boost the financial sector.

Trump signed an executive order directing the Treasury secretary to review Dodd-Frank legislation, implemented in the aftermath of the 2008-09 financial crisis. The president signed a separate order that will delay the implementation of the “fiduciary rule,” which requires that the financial advisers and brokers who handle individual retirement and 401(k) accounts act in the best interest of their clients. Deregulation, proponents say, could improve the sector’s profitability, especially in an environment with rising interest rates, which is typically good for banks.

On the economic front, the first week of the month brings a big haul of interesting data but Friday’s employment data is always front and center.

The U.S. generated 227,000 new jobs in January, the biggest gain in four months, comfortably topping the 197,000 that had been expected. However, the unemployment rate rose to 4.8%, and wage growth was an anemic 0.1%. Combined employment gains for December and November, meanwhile, were 39,000 lower than previously reported.