US markets settle notably higher on Friday

04 Nov 2023 Evaluate

Magnifying previous session’s gains, the US markets settled notably higher on Friday reflecting a positive reaction to a Labor Department report showing U.S. employment rose by less than expected in the month of October. The closely watched report said employment climbed by 150,000 jobs in October after jumping by a downwardly revised 297,000 jobs in September. Street had expected employment to increase by 180,000 jobs compared to the surge of 336,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate crept up to 3.9 percent in October from 3.8 percent in September. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged. The data has added to optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates after the central bank left rates unchanged for the third time in four meetings earlier this week.

A separate report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed a bigger than expected slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in the month of October. The ISM said its services PMI fell to 51.8 in October from 53.6 in September, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth. Street had expected the index to edge down to 53.0. On the sectoral front, Airline stocks saw substantial strength on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 4.9 percent. The rally by gold stocks came amid a modest increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery inching up $5.70 to $1,999.20 an ounce.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 222.24 points or 0.66 percent to 34,061.32, Nasdaq surged 184.09 points or 1.38 percent to 13,478.28 and S&P 500 was up by 40.56 points or 0.94 percent to 4,358.34. 

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