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STOCKS CLIMB ON WALL STREET AS U.S. JOB OPENINGS ZOOM
- By The Financial District
- Jul 3, 2021
- 2 min read
Stock indices are ticking higher on Wall Street Friday after a report showed the nation’s job market was even stronger last month than expected, Stan Choe and Damian J. Troise reported for the Associated Press (AP).
The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in midday trading and on pace for its seventh straight gain, though the benchmark index was nearly evenly split between stocks rising and falling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 99 points, or 0.3%, at 34,732, as of 11:55 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher and on track to set another record like the S&P 500. Smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index lagged with a 0.9% drop.
Indices climbed as soon as trading opened after a US government report said employers hired 850,000 more workers than they cut last month. It was a healthier reading than the 700,000 economists expected and an acceleration following a couple of months of disappointing growth. But the job market still has a ways to go before it gets back to its strength from before the pandemic.
Economists took the report as a sign that workers will indeed come back into the labor force as more people get vaccinated and the pandemic eases. Perhaps more importantly for markets, some said the numbers likely mean the Federal Reserve can stay on the course it’s set, keeping interest rates low for a while longer to support the economy.
Treasury yields were flat to lower following the jobs report, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.44% from 1.48% late Thursday. Low interest rates help drive up prices for all kinds of stocks, but they provide particularly powerful fuel for high-growth companies whose prices may otherwise look expensive. That helped push several influential tech-oriented stocks higher Friday.
Microsoft gained 1.7%, and Apple rose 1.2%. Because those companies are so big, their stock movements carry extra heft for indexes, and they helped make up for losses by energy producers, financial companies, and others.
