Yahoo Finance Dow reclaims 27K, Nasdaq nears record as jobs, economy recover
Investors piled into U.S. equities after a surprise jobs report showed the U.S. economy is seeing a faster than expected rebound from its COVID-19 lockdowns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 829 points or 3.15 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped 2.62 percent.
New economy stocks helped the tech-heavy Nasdaq touch an intraday all-time high of 9,842, but the index closed just under that level with a gain of 2.06 percent.
Amazon, Microsoft and Apple, which hit a fresh record, all contributed to the gains lifting the Nasdaq 100 Index.
The U.S. economy added 2.51 million jobs in May as the unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent, according to a report released Friday morning by the Labor Department. Wall Street analysts surveyed by Refinitv were expecting the economy to lose 8 million jobs as the unemployment rate spiked to 19.8 percent.
President Trump, who posted an enthusiastic tweet afterward, praised the strength of the U.S. economy in a Rose Garden news conference and said 2021 would be its best year yet.
TRUMP SAYS 2021 WILL BE 'BEST YEAR' FOR US ECONOMY AFTER JOBS REBOUND
That would also be the first year of Trump's second term, should he fend off Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden to win re-election in November.
"We’ll go back to having the greatest economy anywhere in the world, nowhere close," Trump promised.
The labor market may see further gains in the month of June after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday said New York City will begin its Phase 1 reopening on Monday, allowing construction, manufacturing and limited retail services to restart.
Looking at stocks, Dow components Goldman Sachs and Home Depot helped drive the gains.
Air carriers continued to soar after United Airlines announced plans to reinstate flights to 150 destinations beginning in July. Rival American Airlines announced on Thursday it would increase its flight schedule to 55 percent capacity.
Hertz shares surged on the heels of the positive travel updates. The car-rental company filed for bankruptcy on May 22.
Other travel-related names, including cruise operators, hotels and booking sites, also outperformed.
In retail, embattled department store J.C. Penney is closing 154 sites in 38 states as it reorganizes its business after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month.
On the earnings front, Gap lost nearly $1 billion during the three months through March as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the company to shutter stores. The retailer said 55 percent of its locations have reopened and online sales are strong.
Messaging platform Slack, meanwhile, was under pressure as first-quarter revenue growth was little changed despite the majority of Americans working from home.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped 5.72 percent to $39.55 per barrel after OPEC and its allies neared a deal to extend production cuts through July. The energy component surged 11 percent this week. Gold fell 2.48 percent to $1,676.20 an ounce on Friday and lost 3.49 percent for the week.
U.S. Treasurys remained under pressure, with selling driving the yield on the 10-year note up to 0.903 percent.
In Europe, France’s CAC advanced 3.71 percent, Germany’s DAX climbed 3.36 percent and Britain’s FTSE rose 2.25 percent.
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Asian markets rallied across the board, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up 1.66 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.74 percent and 0.39 percent, respectively.
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