- Tesla falls on report automaker scrapping low-cost car plans
- March nonfarm payrolls stronger than expected
- Indexes up: Dow 0.8%, S&P 500 1.1%, Nasdaq 1.2%
NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks finished higher on Friday after a strong jobs report reinforced the view that the economy remains healthy even as it suggested the Federal Reserve could delay cutting interest rates.
All major S&P 500 sectors advanced, with communication services
, industrials
and technology
the top gainers.
U.S. Labor Department data showed employers hired far more workers in March than expected and kept steadily lifting wages, suggesting the economy ended the first quarter on solid ground.
The data stoked expectations the Fed will likely delay cutting interest rates given that a recession is nowhere in sight, said Tom Plumb, president and portfolio manager at Plumb Funds in Madison, Wisconsin.
“What we are continuing to see is that a robust economy is not necessarily inflationary, and this labor report, even though it’s just for one month, reinforces that there’s less likelihood of a recession, which is more important than the expectations of the timing of interest rate reductions,” Plumb said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
rose 307.06 points, or 0.80%, to 38,904.04, the S&P 500
gained 57.13 points, or 1.11%, to 5,204.34 and the Nasdaq Composite
gained 199.44 points, or 1.24%, to 16,248.52.
FILE PHOTO:A trader works on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 4, 2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/FILE PHOTO Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
Indexes posted declines for the week, however, following mixed economic data during the week including a soft services activity report and a stronger manufacturing report.
For the week, the Dow fell 2.3%, the S&P 500 dropped 1% and the Nasdaq declined 0.8%.
Money markets are now pricing in around two rate cuts this year, down from three a few weeks ago, according to LSEG.
bucked the day’s broader market trend, with its shares ending down 3.6% following a Reuters report that the electric carmaker had canceled its inexpensive car that was expected to drive its growth into a mass-market automaker.
Among the day’s gainers, Krispy Kreme
rose 7.3% after Piper Sandler analysts upgraded the doughnut chain to “overweight” from “neutral”. Shockwave Medical
gained 2% after Johnson & Johnson
agreed to buy the medical device maker for $12.5 billion.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.11 billion shares, compared with the 11.76 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.44-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.13-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 67 new highs and 136 new lows.
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Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York, additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio
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Chibuike reports on Breaking News, with a focus on finance and markets. He previously covered U.S. private equity firms, and holds master’s degrees in journalism from New York University and Edinburgh Napier University.
