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 added 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:
- Discount Retailer company Ollie's (NASDAQ: OLLI) fell 3.4%. Is now the time to buy Ollie's? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Home Furniture Retailer company Arhaus (NASDAQ: ARHS) fell 3%. Is now the time to buy Arhaus? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Ollie's (OLLI)
Ollie’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 12 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 11 days ago when the stock dropped 3.6% on the news that markets pulled back with the decline concentrated in the tech space as investors engaged in profit-taking following a robust week that saw the S&P 500 hit a new record. Adding to the pressure, new inflation data, specifically the Core PCE, showed an acceleration in July, signaling that rising prices remain a risk despite being in line with expectations. This confluence of factors, including market highs heading into a historically weak September, led to a pullback, with the Nasdaq Composite shedding 1.15%. While the Federal Reserve has hinted at potential rate cuts, the focus on inflation and the jobs market continues to influence investor sentiment.
Ollie's is up 18.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $128.05 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $140.80 from August 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Ollie’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,399.
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