WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After ending yesterday's volatile session mostly lower, stocks showed a significant move back to the upside during trading on Friday. With the strong upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over three months.
The major averages surged early in the session and remained firmly positive throughout the day. The Nasdaq shot up 231.50 points or 1.2 percent to 19,529.95, the Dow surged 443.13 points or 1.1 percent to 42,762.87 and the S&P 500 jumped 61.06 points or 1.0 percent to 6,000.36.
The rally on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing slightly stronger than expected U.S. job growth in the month of May.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 139,000 jobs in May after jumping by a downwardly revised 147,000 jobs in April.
Economists had expected employment to increase by about 130,000 jobs compared to the addition of 177,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate came in at 4.2 percent in May, unchanged from the previous month and in line with economist estimates.
The modestly bigger than expected increase in employment helped offset concerns about the strength of the economy following some recent downbeat data.
'The slowdown in the job market has been quite smooth so far without many surprises,' said Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial. 'If payroll growth trudges on like this, the Fed will likely remain in 'wait and see' mode.'
Sector News
Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 3.2 percent.
A sharp increase by the price of crude oil also contributed to significant strength among oil service stocks, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 2.2 percent.
Financial, oil producer and biotechnology stocks also saw considerable strength, while gold stocks bucked the uptrend amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.5 percent.
The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries moved sharply lower in reaction to the better than expected U.S. jobs data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, surged 11.6 basis points to 4.510 percent.
Looking Ahead
Reports on consumer and producer price inflation and consumer sentiment are likely to be in focus next week, while traders are also likely to keep an eye on any developments on the trade front.
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