NEW YORK: US stock indexes rose on Friday after jobs data showed a moderation in wage growth, boosting bets that the Federal Reserve will skip hiking rates this month, while investors cheered the country averting a catastrophic debt default.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq index touched its highest intraday level in over 13 months and headed for its sixth straight week of gains, its best streak since January 2020.
The Labor Department’s closely watched employment report showed unemployment rate at 3.7% in May against a forecast of 3.5%, while average hourly earnings were at 0.3%, down from 0.4% in April, highlighting a cooling in wage inflation.
“This is a reflection of a labor market that, while still robust, is softening gently, not rapidly. That’s exactly what the Fed would like to see,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth in New York.
The data brought relief to investors who now expect the Fed to skip an interest rate hike this month for the first time since starting its aggressive policy tightening more than a year ago.
But the data also showed non-farm payrolls increased by 339,000 jobs vs. expectations of 190,000 additions.
Steve Wyett, chief investment strategist at BOK Financial, said the report is enough to allow the Fed to skip rate hikes, but “they’re (Fed) not seeing the type of weakness where they could even think about beginning to ease on interest rates at any point.” Fed funds futures trading showed an over 70% probability that the Fed will hold interest rates steady at its June 13-14 policy meeting.
Markets now await more signs of slowing inflation from consumer and producer prices data later this month.
Also lifting the mood, the Senate passed a bill late on Thursday to lift the government’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, avoiding a catastrophic, first-ever default.
The CBOE volatility index fell to its lowest since November 2021, down 0.8 point at 14.8 points.
At 12:36 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 625.87 points, or 1.89%, at 33,687.44, the S&P 500 was up 58.00 points, or 1.37%, at 4,279.02, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 131.41 points, or 1.00%, at 13,232.40.
Amazon.com Inc gained 1.6% after a report that the company is in talks with telecom operators to offer low-cost mobile services in the United States.
The S&P 500 communication services index edged up 0.2% while the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector, housing Amazon, soared 2.3%.
All 11 major S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with a nearly 3% jump in materials leading gains after a report said China is mulling new measures to support the property market.
The S&P 500 industrials sector rose 2.8%, while Dow heavyweight Caterpillar gained 7.7%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 4.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.47-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 12 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 58
new highs and 32 new lows.
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