US stocks rose on Friday after a better-than-expected jobs report calmed worries about the economy, while Tesla rebounded from a sharp plunge a day earlier and technology stocks continued to rise.
Data showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 139,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 147,000 in April. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing by 130,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate stood at 4.2%, in line with expectations.
“Things are slowing, but they’re not collapsing and that’s the good news. We’re not seeing a serious degradation of the jobs market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.
Following the report, traders bet that Federal Reserve policymakers have little reason to rush on rate cuts. They are seen waiting until September to cut rates, with just one more cut in view by December, based on interest rate futures. The central bank’s policy meeting is due later this month.
Weaker-than-expected private payrolls numbers and surveys on services sector this week had raised concerns about an economic slowdown caused by trade uncertainties.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the planned meeting between U.S. and Chinese official on trade is expected to take place within seven days.
Wall Street gains as investors focus on trade
Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke on Thursday after weeks of brewing trade tensions and a battle over critical minerals. The leaders, however, left key issues unresolved for future talks.
U.S. equities rallied sharply in May, with the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq scoring their biggest monthly percentage gains since November 2023, thanks to softening of Trump’s harsh trade stance and upbeat earnings reports.
The S&P 500 hit its highest in over three months on Friday and remains nearly 2.2% below record highs touched in February. The Dow index also rose to a near three-month high.
The economically sensitive Russell 2000 smallcap index gained 1.3%.
The Cboe Volatility Index, known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” fell 1.19 points to 17.29, its lowest in over two months.
At 10:24 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 541.42 points, or 1.28%, to 42,861.16, the S&P 500 gained 69.27 points, or 1.16%, to 6,008.45 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 246.51 points, or 1.28%, to 19,544.96.
All of the 11 major S&P 500 sub-sectors rose, led by communication services with a 1.9% rise, while technology stocks gained 1.1%.
Shares of Tesla rose 3.9% after plunging about 15% on Thursday following Trump’s public feud with Musk, including threats to cut off government contracts with Musk’s companies.
Other megacap companies including Amazon was up 1.9%, while Alphabet gained 2.8%.
Broadcom shares fell 3.3% after the networking and custom AI chipmaker’s quarterly revenue forecast failed to impress investors.
Lululemon shares lost 20.4% as the sportswear maker cut its annual profit target, citing higher costs from Trump’s tariffs.
Shares of virtual document signing platform DocuSign fell 18.9% after first-quarter results.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.7-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.82-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 47 new highs and 24 new lows.
Comments