Wall Street indexes rise after strong jobs data

NEW YORK: 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. 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.

Tesla 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.