Categories: Business

Dow sets new high after stellar US jobs report

NEW YORK (AP) — Stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange rose Friday after an unexpectedly strong U.S. labor market report fueled optimism about the economy.

The S&P 500 rose 51.13 points, or 0.9%, to 5,751.07, nearing its all-time high hit on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 341.16 points, or 0.8%, to close at 42,352.75, breaking its own record, while the Nasdaq added 219.37 points, or 1.2%, to 18,137.85. .

Leading the gains were banks, airlines, cruise operators and other companies whose profits stand to benefit most from a stronger economy in which people have jobs and a greater ability to pay for things. Cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line rose 4.9%, JPMorgan Chase rose 3.5% and small-cap Russell 2000 stocks rose 1.5%.

The companies helped stock indexes recover from losses a few days ago, triggered by fears that increasingly tense situations in the Middle East could disrupt global oil flows. Oil prices rose again on Friday, but the moves were more muted than a few days ago as the world continued to wait to see how Israel would respond to Iran’s missile attack.

Meanwhile, the strength of the United States economy has regained its position as the main driver of markets.

Treasury yields soared in the bond market after the federal government said employers added 254,000 more jobs to their payrolls last month than they cut. That represented an acceleration from August’s hiring rate of 159,000 and beat economists’ forecasts.

Lindsey Rosner, head of multi-sector investments at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, called the report a “grand slam.” Federal Reserve policymakers who have attempted the difficult task of keeping the economy afloat while controlling inflation “must be smiling,” Rosner said.

Friday’s report capped a week in which broadly encouraging economic data helped answer one of the biggest questions on Wall Street: Can the labor market continue to hold up after the Fed previously kept interest rates at their highest levels in two decades?

Before Friday’s jobs report, the general trend was a slowdown in hiring at U.S. companies. This is not surprising given how much the central bank has slowed the economy by raising interest rates to end high inflation.

On the oil market, the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 0.6% to $78.05, recording a weekly increase of 9.1%. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.9% to $74.38 from about $68 at the start of the week.