BLS Jobs +177K, Better than Expected; Unemployment +4.2%

Employment Situation Report - The U.S. added +177K new jobs in April, surpassing the expected +133K [1] - The Unemployment Rate remained stable at +4.2% [1] - March's job numbers were revised down from +228K to +185K, and February's from +151K to +117K [2] Wage Growth and Labor Participation - Hourly Wages increased by +0.2%, lower than the expected +0.3%, with year-over-year growth at +3.8% [3] - The Average Workweek increased by 10 basis points to 34.3 hours [3] - Labor Force Participation reached 62.6%, matching the highs of September last year [3] Sector Performance - Education & Health Services added +70K jobs, followed by +29K in Transportation & Warehousing and +24K in Leisure & Hospitality [4] - Federal agencies saw a slight reduction of -9K jobs, attributed to severance packages from recent layoffs [4] Market Reaction - The positive employment report contributed to pre-market gains, with the Dow up +425 points, S&P 500 up +60 points, and Nasdaq up +215 points [5] Q1 Earnings Overview - ExxonMobil reported a +69% positive earnings surprise at $4.09 per share, with revenues of $383 million, outperforming consensus by +7.8% [6] - Despite the earnings news, ExxonMobil shares are down -15% year to date [6]