“Jobs” push US stocks to higher levels

Sheriff Adel (Washington)

The US jobs report boosted the weekly close of financial market indexes, reassuring investors about the health of the US economy and contributing to a new record high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
In trading on the last day of the week, the S&P 500 index rose 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.22%, and the Dow Jones industrial average added 341.16 points, or 0.81%.
Markets got a strong boost after data showed nonfarm payrolls grew by 254,000 jobs in September, well above expectations for an increase of just 150,000 jobs according to the Dow Jones poll. The unemployment rate also fell to 4.1%, despite expectations that it would remain stable at 4.2%. With the strength of the economic data, markets began to expect the Federal Reserve to take a gradual approach to lowering interest rates, which helped to ease some fears of a sharp rise in interest rates, and continued to boost confidence in some sectors such as energy and financial services.
“After a summer of weak labor market data, this report is encouraging to read that the US economy remains strong, supported by a healthy labor market,” said Michelle Clover, head of investment portfolios at Global X. She added: ” We are still in an environment that provides good economic news for the stock market, as it increases the possibility of achieving the smooth decline that the markets have been waiting for for a long time. ” Shares of major technology companies, including Tesla, Amazon and Netflix, rose on Friday, which partly explains the performance of the Nasdaq. The financial sector was also the best performer in the S&P 500, jumping 1.6% to close at the highest level. Shares of JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo rose more than 3%.
Small businesses
Small-cap stocks rose, with the Russell 2000 index jumping 1.5%. Friday’s gains helped erase the losses markets have seen in recent days, as rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East led to a poor start to October for stocks, in the turnaround after strong market performance in the first nine months of the year.