Stocks rise after a better-than-expected jobs report
U.S. stocks climbed Friday after the government said hiring grew at a stronger pace last month. Technology and consumer-focused companies led the way as investors celebrated a positive sign for the economy.
The Labor Department said U.S. employers added 222,000 jobs last month. That was more than analysts had expected, and it came a day after a survey showed weaker job creation by private companies. Stocks regained much of the ground they lost Thursday. Technology companies jumped, and retailers rose. Bond yields climbed, and the dollar got stronger. Gold fell.
“The data itself shows a pretty strong labor market,” said Sean Lynch, co-head of global equity strategy for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. He said it “probably lays to rest some of the worries [that] we were taking a step back from an economic standpoint.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 15.43 points, or 0.6%, to 2,425.18. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 94.30 points, or 0.4%, to 21,414.34 after falling 158 points the day before. The Nasdaq composite advanced 63.61 points, or 1%, to 6,153.08. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks jumped 15.02 points, or 1.1%, to 1,415.84.
After Friday’s jobs report, companies that would benefit from better economic growth — such as banks and industrial companies — made strong gains.
But tech firms gained the biggest ground. Facebook advanced 1.8% to $151.44. Microsoft rose 1.3% to $69.46.
Technology stocks have done better than any other industrial group in the S&P 500 this year, but they have had a bad month. On June 8, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed at an all-time high, and the S&P 500 technology index closed at a 17-year-high. Since then, the tech index has dropped 4%, its worst one-month stretch since Britain voted to leave the European Union last June. Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, have fallen almost 8% in that time, while chipmaker Nvidia is down 10%, and smaller chip and chip-equipment companies have taken even sharper losses.
“If the markets are to go higher, it’s got to come from somewhere other than technology,” Lynch said.
McDonald’s rose 2.1% to $156.27 on Friday. Amazon ticked up 1.4% to $978.76, and Netflix advanced 2.7% to $150.18. Homebuilder D.R. Horton climbed 3.8% to $35.79.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell $1.29, or 2.8%, to $44.23 a barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell $1.40, or 2.9%, to $46.71 a barrel. Analysts said investors are focused on the strong increase in U.S. production in Thursday’s energy supply report. Hess shares fell 2.4% to $41.79, and Devon Energy fell 2.1% to $29.54.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.39% from 2.37%. Big-dividend stocks like phone companies, household goods makers and utilities mostly lagged behind the overall market as investors who sought yields turned elsewhere.
Advisory Board jumped 5.4% to $57.10 after Bloomberg said health insurer UnitedHealth Group and private equity firm Vista Equity plan to buy the consulting company and break it up. UnitedHealth rose 0.5% to $187.96. Investors currently value Advisory Board at about $2.3 billion.
Mobile services company Synchronoss Technologies climbed 4% to $16.50 after it said it will review its options, which could include a sale of the company. Siris Capital Group offered last month to buy the company for $18 a share.
The dollar rose to 113.99 yen from 113.26 yen. The euro fell to $1.1404 from $1.1423.
Gold fell $13.60, or 1.1%, to a four-month low of $1,209.70 an ounce. Silver slid 56 cents, or 3.5%, to $15.43 an ounce. Copper fell 1 cent to $2.65 a pound.
Wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $1.50 a gallon. Heating oil fell 3 cents to $1.45 a gallon. Natural gas fell 2 cents to $2.86 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The French CAC 40 lost 0.1%, Germany’s DAX added 0.1% and the FTSE 100 of Britain gained 0.2%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi each fell 0.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.5%.
UPDATES:
1:55 p.m.: This article was updated with closing prices, context and analyst comment.
This article was originally published at 8:05 a.m.
