US stocks subdued at open, disappointing jobs data and volatile oil prices weigh

The US stock markets opened with modest gains on the last trading day of the week, sending all the three key indices further into fresh record territory.

The up-move, however, lacked momentum in wake of disappointing official monthly jobs data, showing that the US economic added 138K new jobs in May. The reading was well below consensus estimates and last month's reading was also revised sharply lower.

The disappointing reading did little to dampen market expectations that the Federal Reserve would eventually raise interest rates on June 14 but definitely seems to suggest that the underlying strength in the US labor market could have started losing steam.

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added around 20-points to 21,162, while broader S&P 500 Index inched up 2-points to 2,432. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed the broader indices and climbed in excess of 15-points to 6,262.

Meanwhile, volatile oil prices, with WTI crude oil at one point tumbling below $47.00/barrel mark to three-week lows on concerns over the US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, further weighed on investor sentiment and contributed to the subdued price action during opening hour of trade.

Technical outlook (SP500)

Carol Harmer, Founder charmertradingacademy.com writes, "can we maintain strength in the day session after the figures...Or is this a ploy that the numbers are bad, and therefore it is better to fall from higher levels that 2403..Its a crazy thing really..Is the fig already priced in the market from some little itty bitty sneaky leak of the fig...You just cant tell...something happened though to put a rocket up the S&P....we just need to see if its sustained. .Now as we had such a job break above 2518/6 this should really act as good support ....Now obviously we break below 2416 and there is scope for 2405/02....Resistance I have is 2440....."