Stock Market News Review: SPY, QQQ Trudge Higher amid Job Fears, Beige Book Economic Uncertainty

Both the S&P 500 (SPX) and the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) closed higher as the market continues its uptrend from the April lows.

This morning, President Trump urged Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut the federal funds rate following the release of the ADP National Employment report. The report showed new private payroll additions of 37,000 jobs in May, well below the estimate for 110,000 jobs and also below 60,000 in April.

““ADP NUMBER OUT!!! “Too Late” Powell must now LOWER THE RATE. He is unbelievable!!! Europe has lowered NINE TIMES!,” said Trump in a Truth Social post. In a previous post, Trump expressed frustration with China President Xi Jinping, adding that he is “VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!”

Another concerning piece of economic data made the rounds today, with the ISM May Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) tallying in at 49.9 compared to the expectation for 52.0 and falling from 51.6 in April. May’s reading marked just the fourth time in the past five years that Services PMI came in below 50. A reading above 50 indicates growth while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Meanwhile, a new report from the Wall Street Journal raises concerns about the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) hiring freeze. Some economists have questioned the accuracy of the BLS’s consumer price index (CPI), or inflation, data, saying that the hiring freeze has resulted in a shortage of workers that are able to track the prices of goods and services across the U.S. When workers are unable to collect the price for a specific good or service, they instead make a guess based on a substitute good or service, risking the accuracy of the CPI.

Ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on June 17 and 18, the Fed has released its Beige Book. The report highlights economic activity across the 12 Fed districts, which includes key cities like New York and Boston. All 12 districts reported higher economic and policy uncertainty with six of the districts reporting a slight to moderate decline in economic activity. The districts were unanimous in agreeing that tariffs would pressure prices and costs higher while contacts of the Beige Book who planned on passing on tariff-driven price hikes to customers said that they would do so within the next three months.

The S&P 500 just barely managed to close in the green with a less than 0.01% gain while the Nasdaq 100 jumped higher by 0.27%.