WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the rally seen over the course of
Thursday's session, stocks showed another strong move to the upside during
trading on Friday. The major averages all moved sharply higher, with the
tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.

The major averages moved roughly sideways after an early surge, remaining firmly
positive. The Dow jumped 450.02 points or 1.2 percent to 38,675.68, the Nasdaq
spiked 315.37 points or 2.0 percent to 16,156.33 and the S&P 500 shot up 63.59
points or 1.3 percent to 5,127.79.

For the week, the S&P 500 climbed by 0.6 percent, while the Dow advanced by 1.1
percent and the Nasdaq jumped by 1.4 percent.

The extended rally on Wall Street came following the release of a closely
watched Labor Department showing employment in the U.S. increased by much less
than expected in the month of April.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 175,000 jobs in
April after surging by an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in March.

Economists had expected employment to jump by 243,000 jobs compared to the spike
of 303,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The report also showed the unemployment rate crept up to 3.9 percent in April
from 3.8 percent in March. The unemployment rate was expected to remain
unchanged.

The annual rate of wage growth slowed to 4.0 percent in April from 4.1 percent
in March, while economists had expected the pace of wage growth to dip to 4.0
percent.

The data helped generate optimism about the outlook for interest rates following
the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting earlier in the week.

'In an environment where the market is worried about inflation, a softer jobs
report with (slightly) higher unemployment, lower-than-expected wage growth and
job creation shows that inflation pressure from wages is easing,' said Chris
Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.

He added, 'Chair Powell already signaled to the market that rate hikes are off
the table in almost any scenario (although rapidly rising inflation would be met
with rate hikes), so the market is back to risk on mode as long as the Fed
maintains an easing bias.'

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to earnings news from Apple
(AAPL), with the tech giant surging by 6.0 percent.

Apple rallied after reporting better than expected fiscal second quarter results
and announcing a $110 billion stock repurchase.

Meanwhile, a separate report released by the Institute for Supply Management
showed U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly contracted in the month of
April.

The ISM said its services PMI dipped to 49.4 in April from 51.4 in March, with a
reading below 50 indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to
inch up to 52.0.

With the unexpected decrease, the services PMI indicated activity in the sector
contracted for the first time since December 2022.

Sector News

Semiconductor stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the
day, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.4 percent.

Software and computer hardware stocks also saw significant strength,
contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Considerable strength was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the
1.5 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.

Steel, brokerage and retail stocks also showed strong moves to the upside,
moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly
higher on Friday, with markets in Japan and mainland China closed for holidays.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.5 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200
Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German
DAX Index advanced by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC
40 Index both rose by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries gave back ground after an early rally but
remained firmly positive. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note,
which moves opposite of its price, slid 7.1 basis points to 4.50 percent.

Looking Ahead

Following several key events over the past week, the U.S. economic calendar for
next week is relatively quiet, potentially shifting the spotlight to earnings
news from several big-name companies.



Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved

Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX