What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after a significant downward revision of U.S. job creation data raised concerns about the health of the economy. 

The Labor Department reported that employers added 911,000 fewer jobs from April 2024 through March 2025 than initially estimated. This revision brings the average monthly job gains during that period down significantly, suggesting a cooler labor market. The downgrades were widespread across various service sectors. The largest revisions were seen in leisure and hospitality, which added 176,000 fewer jobs than first reported, followed by professional and business services and retail. Such data is closely watched by investors and economists as it can influence the Federal Reserve's decisions on interest rates. 

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the U.S. economy is "weakening," though he stopped short of predicting a recession. "Whether it's on the way to recession or just weakening, I don't know," he said. Dimon's remarks are closely watched, given his influence as head of one of the nation's largest banks.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Leisure Products company Brunswick (NYSE: BC) fell 3%. Is now the time to buy Brunswick? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Travel and Vacation Providers company United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL) fell 3.5%. Is now the time to buy United Airlines? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On United Airlines (UAL)

United Airlines’s shares are very volatile and have had 25 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 19 days ago when the stock dropped 3.1% on the news that markets continued to decline, as investors grew cautious ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The move came as U.S. equity markets recorded a fifth consecutive day of losses for major indexes like the S&P 500, with technology stocks experiencing the largest declines. Investors have grown wary that the sharp rally in the tech sector since April may have advanced too far. 

United Airlines is up 9.6% since the beginning of the year, and at $104.57 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $110.52 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of United Airlines’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,902.

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