NEW YORK: The S&P 500 jumped to a fresh record Friday after investors concluded that a disappointing August jobs report would discourage the US Federal Reserve from quickly raising interest rates.
At the closing bell, the broad-based S&P 500 stood at 2,007.37, up 9.72 points (0.49 percent), besting a record set last week by about six points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63.45 (0.37 percent) to 17,133.03, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 20.61 (0.45 percent) to 4,582.90.
The Labor Department reported that the US economy added just 142,000 new jobs in August, snapping a six-month streak of more than 200,000 jobs per a month and coming in far below the 223,000 new jobs forecast by analysts.
But stocks rallied in the afternoon as investors saw the chances diminished that the Fed would accelerate its time table to raise benchmark interest rates.
"Investors are putting their expectation on when interest rates will rise a little later into the future," said David Levy, a portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management.
"Lower interest rates for a longer period of time are obviously viewed as a positive by investors."
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