U.S. Markets Close Mixed on August 7: S&P 500 Gains 0.62% to Record 7,757.64, Dow Rises 0.28%, Nasdaq Jumps 1.3% After Surprise July Jobs Decline

U.S. stock markets closed mixed on Friday, August 7, 2026, with the S&P 500 advancing 0.62 percent to a record close of 7,757.64, the Nasdaq Composite jumping 1.3 percent to 26,690.62, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 151.83 points, or 0.28 percent, to settle at 54,036.93, according to CNBC and Yahoo Finance. Investors digested a surprise decline in job growth and its implications for Federal Reserve interest rate policy. The July nonfarm payrolls report showed the U.S. economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs, far below the 83,000-job addition that Wall Street had expected, while the unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 4.1 percent against economists' estimate of an unchanged rate of 4.2 percent, according to Bloomberg. Traders interpreted the weak jobs data as meaning the Federal Reserve won't need to raise interest rates soon and can leave monetary policy on hold for now, reviving appetite for riskier assets. Money markets still project a Fed hike in 2026, but not before December. Stocks posted a second straight week of gains. The S&P 500, which closed above 7,700 for the first time ever earlier this week, advanced 3.6 percent in the period. The Nasdaq saw a gain of 5.2 percent, thanks to a bounce-back in chip stocks, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF ending the week up more than 7 percent. The Dow gained nearly 3 percent in the week. In corporate news, Airbnb jumped more than 8 percent in extended trading after reporting stronger-than-expected revenue and earnings, while Cloudflare soared 16 percent on an upbeat full-year and current-quarter outlook. DraftKings slipped 3 percent after falling short of revenue estimates. The pullback on Thursday came as a rebound in oil prices reignited concerns that the Fed could raise interest rates as soon as next month, with yields rising alongside wholesale fuel prices as investors reassessed the prospects for restoring shipping through Hormuz.