US markets end significantly higher on Friday

06 Apr 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended significantly higher on Friday as traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the steep drop seen during Thursday's session, which dragged the Dow down to its lowest closing level in a month. Investors also reacted positively to a closely watched Labor Department report showing much stronger than expected job growth in the month of March. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment spiked by 303,000 jobs in March after surging by a downwardly revised 270,000 jobs in February. Street had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs compared to the addition of 275,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The report also said the unemployment rate edged down to 3.8 percent in March from 3.9 percent in February, while street had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.

The stronger than expected job growth may have added to recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates, the report also showed a continued slowdown in the annual rate of wage growth. The Labor Department said the annual rate of wage growth slowed to 4.1 percent in March from 4.3 percent in February, in line with estimates. On the sectoral front, Gold stocks moved sharply higher following the pullback seen on Thursday, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.3 percent to its best closing level in well over ten months. Significant strength was also visible among retail stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index. Software, semiconductor and housing stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 307.06 points or 0.80 percent to 38,904.04, Nasdaq rose 199.44 points or 1.24 percent to 16,248.52 and S&P 500 was up by 57.13 points or 1.11 percent to 5,204.34.

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