Nasdaq, S&P, Dow end higher after latest jobs report, but retreat on a weekly basis$Nasdaq100 Bull 3X ETF(TQQQ)$
Wall Street made solid gains on Friday, after the latest nonfarm payrolls report signaled cooling inflation and a U.S. economy that was powering ahead of others.
The advance came despite the data also underscoring the Federal Reserve's wait-and-see approach to cutting interest rates. Fed speakers reacted with caution to the jobs print.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.24% to end at 16,248.52 points. A rise in megacap stocks provided a boost to the tech-heavy index, with Netflix (NFLX) climbing more than 3% after Pivotal Research upped its price target on the streaming giant's stock to a Street high.
The benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) advanced 1.11% to end at 5,204.34 points, while the blue-chip Dow (DJI) increased 0.80% to settle at 38,904.04 points.
All 11 S&P sectors ended in the green.
However, on a weekly basis, the S&P 500 (SP500) and the Dow (DJI) notched their worst performance of the year, with the former retreating 0.95% and the latter falling 2.27%. The Nasdaq slipped 0.80% for the week.
Before the opening bell, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 303K nonfarm payrolls in March, well above the anticipated rise of 212K and accelerating from the +270K reading in February. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.8% from 3.9%, while the labor force participation rate inched up to 62.7% from 62.5%.
The numbers continued to point to a labor market that has shown remarkable resilience to the Fed's aggressive monetary policy tightening cycle. The figures also mean that the Fed will likely not be in any rush to cut interest rates.
But traders appeared to focus on a key part of the report: average hourly earnings (AHE), which is an indicator of inflation. On a M/M basis, AHE gained 0.3% in March, matching the consensus, while on a Y/Y basis, AHE rose by 4.1%. That its lowest level since June of 2021.
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