US markets end volatile session significantly higher on Friday

06 Mar 2021 Evaluate

The US markets ended volatile session significantly higher on Friday as traders continued to keep a close eye on activity in the bond markets following the recent increase in yields. Yields spiked early in the session following the release of upbeat jobs data, contributing to a continued sell-off by stocks in early trading. However, bond yields gave back ground over the course of the session, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note ending the day nearly flat after reaching a more than one-year high above 1.6 percent. The pullback by yields inspired traders to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the weakness seen in recent sessions.

The volatility in the markets followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which showed much stronger than expected job growth in the month of February. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 379,000 jobs in February after climbing by an upwardly revised 166,000 jobs in January. Street had expected employment to increase by 182,000 jobs compared to the uptick of 49,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The stronger than expected job growth was primarily due to a rebound in employment in the leisure and hospitality industry, which added 355,000 jobs. The report also said the unemployment rate unexpectedly edged down to 6.2 percent in February from 6.3 percent in January. Street had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged. The modest decrease pulled the unemployment rate down to its lowest level since hitting 4.4 percent last March, when coronavirus-related lockdowns began to take effect.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 572.16 points or 1.85 percent to 31,496.3, Nasdaq jumped 196.68 points or 1.55 percent to 12,920.15 and S&P 500 was up by 73.47 points or 1.95 percent to 3,841.94.

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