U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls Miss Expectations, Unemployment Rate Rises to 4.4%
Stocks had a down Friday to close out a down week after data showed unexpected job cuts and rising unemployment in February. Nonfarm payrolls fell by 92,000 in February, missing the growth of 55,000 that economists predicted, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3%. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate futures broke above $90 per barrel for first time since October 2023 after President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that there won't be a deal to end the U.S.-Iran war without an "unconditional surrender."Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.1. STOCK NEWS:President Trump and Secretary Hegseth met with the CEOs of defense companies today at the White House asthere "will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender"Marvellreceived a pair of upgrades and a number of price target hikes from Wall Street firms after itswere strongJPMorgan says Costco's"core story remains intact" following the membership club retailer'sGapshares traded lower after Old Navy and Athletain Q4Day One Biopharmaceuticalsby Servier for $21.50 per share in cash2. WALL STREET CALLS:Marvellwasto Buy at Benchmark and BofA on expectations for accelerating data center demandKarmanto Overweight at Piper SandlerOktato Outperform at BMO CapitalWedbushTrade Deskto Underperform, says impact of OpenAI partnership overestimatedZoetisto Hold from Buy at Nephron Research3. AROUND THE WEB:China near deal to order 500 Boeing737 Max jets, Bloomberg saysStates preparing to challenge planned tie-up of Nexstarwith Tegna, WSJ reportsPrivate equity firms including Blackstoneand TPGhave expressed interest in acquiring Whitestone REIT, Reuters reportsChina has approved Pfizer'sGLP-1 treatment Xianweiying for weight management in adults, Reuters saysMetahired the engineering team from Atma Sciences, the startup that makes the vibe coding app Gizmo, earlier in 2026 to join its Superintelligence Labs, Business Insider reports4. MOVERS:Samsaragained after reportingand providing guidance for Q1 and FY27ASP Isotopesincreased afterQuantum Leap Energy has entered into a non-binding MOU with a large publicly traded U.S. energy companyWestern Alliancedeclined after beingby Jefferies (JEF) that payments of $126.4M owed to the bank pursuant to a forbearance agreement will not be paid as agreedREalloysfell after announcing a 2.7MIngram Microdeclined after announcing a 8.999M5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:Algonquin Powersreportedand backed its guidance for FY26Embraerreported, with revenue beating consensusImmuneeringreported, with CEO Ben Zeskind commenting that 2025 was "a transformative year"SunCar Technologyreportedfor Q4Methode Electronicsreported Q3 results andfor FY26INDEXES:The Dow fell 0.95%, or 453.19, to 47,501.55, the Nasdaq lost 1.59%, or 361.31, to 22,387.68, and the S&P 500 declined 1.33%, or 90.69, to 6,740.02.
