By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Friday after a strong jobs report strengthened views that the economy remains healthy even as it suggested the Federal Reserve may delay cutting interest rates.
All major sectors were advancing, led by communications services, industry and technology.
Data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed that employers hired far more workers than expected in March and continued to steadily raise wages, suggesting the economy ended the first quarter on solid footing.
The data fueled expectations that the Fed will likely delay cutting interest rates given that a recession is not in sight, said Tom Plumb, president and portfolio manager of Plumb Funds in Madison, Wisconsin.
“What we continue to see is that a robust economy is not necessarily inflationary, and this jobs report, even though it’s only for one month, reinforces that there is less likelihood of a recession, which is more important than expectations about times of recession. interest rate reductions,” Plumb said.
The S&P 500 Index rose 337.63 points, or 0.87%, to 38,934.61, the S&P 500 Index gained 56.86 points, or 1.10%, to 5,204.07 and adding 202.05 points, or 1.26%, to 16,251.13.
The S&P 500 was on track for a weekly decline, pressured this week by mixed economic data such as the soft services activity report, stronger manufacturing report and comments from politicians.
According to LSEG, money markets are pricing in about two rate cuts this year, compared to three just a few weeks ago.
Tesla (NASDAQ:) bucked the broader market trend on the day, with its shares falling 3.9% following a Reuters report that the electric automaker had canceled its car economy that was supposed to drive its growth into a mass-market automaker.
Among the day’s gainers was Krispy Kreme, which rose 6% after Piper Sandler analysts upgraded the donut chain from “neutral” to “overweight.” Shock wave medicine (NASDAQ:) gained 2% after Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) agreed to buy the medical device maker for $12.5 billion.
On the NYSE, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1.49 to 1; on the Nasdaq, a ratio of 1.18 to 1 favored advances.
The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 60 new highs and 118 new lows.