Upbeat April Jobs Data Put Focus on 3 Sector ETFs & Stocks

The U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April 2025, a slowdown from the downwardly revised 185,000 in March, but significantly surpassing market expectations of 130,000. This figure aligns closely with the average monthly gain of 152,000 over the past 12 months, despite growing uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policies.

Job growth was mainly noticed in sectors such as health care (+51,000), transportation and warehousing (+29,000), financial activities (+14,000), and social assistance (+8,000), while federal government employment experienced a decline (-9,000).

The U.S. unemployment rate was at 4.2% in April 2025, the same as in March and in line with market expectations. The number of unemployed individuals increased by 82,000 to 7.165 million, while employment grew by 436,000 to reach 163.944 million. The labor force participation rate also edged up to 62.6% from 62.5%, and the employment-population ratio to 60% from 59.9%. 

Below, we have highlighted some of the sectors and their related exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that will likely see smooth trading in the days ahead in light of the April jobs data.

Sector ETFs in Focus

Healthcare

Health care added 51,000 jobs in April, in line with the average monthly gain of 52,000 over the prior 12 months. Over the month, employment continued to trend up in ambulatory health care services (+21,000), and hospitals (+22,000).

Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF XLV can be played to tap the moderate momentum. The fund has 30% exposure to the pharma industry, followed by 22.32% exposure to the healthcare providers & services industry, about 22% focus on Health Care Equipment & Supplies, 17.1% focus on the biotech sector and 8.7% focus on the life sciences tools & services.

HCA Healthcare HCA, which has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), deserves a mention. It is the largest non-governmental operator of acute care hospitals in the United States. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 7.06%, on average.

Transportation

Employment in transportation and warehousing rose by 29,000, following little change in the prior month (+3,000). Job gains occurred in warehousing and storage (+10,000), couriers and messengers (+8,000), and air transportation (+3,000) in April. Transportation and warehousing had added an average of 12,000 jobs per month over the past one year.

Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) SPDR S&P Transportation ETF XTN can thus be considered for a play. The fund yields 1.08% annually.

FedEx FDX, a Zacks Rank #3 stock, is the leader in global express delivery services. The company provides a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services through companies competing collectively, operating independently and managed collaboratively, under the FedEx brand. This is a good stock pick in this context.

Financials

In April, financial activities employment continued to increase (+14,000). The industry has added 103,000 jobs since its employment trough in April 2024.

This puts focus on the Zacks Rank #1 Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF XLF. The fund yields 1.43% annually.

Morgan Stanley MS, which holds Zacks Rank #3, is the leading financial services holding company headquartered in New York. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 20.30%, on average.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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