US markets settle higher on Friday amid upbeat jobs data

03 Jul 2021 Evaluate

The US markets settled sharply higher on Friday as traders reacted positively to the closely watched monthly jobs report. The advance lifted all three major averages to new record closing highs. The Labor Department released a report showing a continued reacceleration in the pace of US job growth in the month of June. The report showed non-farm payroll employment spiked by 850,000 jobs in June after surging by an upwardly revised 583,000 jobs in May. Street had expected employment to jump by about 700,000 jobs compared to the addition of 559,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. Following the decrease in employment seen last December, the pace of job growth has bounced back to its highest level since last August.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate unexpectedly inched up to 5.9 percent in June from 5.8 percent in May. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 5.7 percent. The stronger than expected job growth paints a positive picture of the gradually reopening economy but is not seen as likely to significantly alter the Federal Reserve's timeline for tightening monetary policy. A separate report from the Commerce Department showed the US trade deficit widened roughly in line with estimates in the month of May.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 152.82 points or 0.44 percent to 34,786.35, Nasdaq surged 116.95 points or 0.81 percent to 14,639.33 and S&P 500 was up by 32.40 points or 0.75 percent to 4,352.34.

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