Wall Street’s main indices on Friday rose to all-time highs as data showing the slowest US jobs growth in six months raised investors’ expectations for a new fiscal relief bill to help revive the COVID-19-hit economy.
So-called “cyclical” stocks seen as particularly sensitive to the economy, such as energy, materials and industrials, shined as most S&P 500 sectors rose.
The US Department of Labor’s closely watched report showed that non-farm payrolls last month increased by 245,000 jobs, below economists’ expectations of 469,000 jobs and the smallest gain since the labor recovery began in May.
US president-elect Joe Biden said Friday’s “grim” jobs report showed the economic recovery is stalling, adding that the “dark winter” ahead would exacerbate the pain unless the US Congress passes a COVID-19 relief bill immediately.
“The bad news of the weakening jobs picture is potentially good news for investors, because it means that the stimulus bill is much more likely to take place in a fairly short time frame,” said Ryan Detrick, a senior market strategist at LPL Financial in North Carolina.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 248.74 points, or 0.83 percent, to 30,218.26, the S&P 500 gained 32.4 points, or 0.88 percent, to 3,699.12 and the NASDAQ Composite added 87.05 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,464.23.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average and the small-cap Russell 2000 also posted record closing highs.
The benchmark 10-year yield hit its highest level since March at more than 0.98 percent, helping support financial shares, which are highly sensitive to interest rates.
The energy sector jumped 5.4 percent, bolstered by gains in oil prices. Shares of Diamondback Energy Inc surged 12.7 percent and Occidental Petroleum gained 13.4 percent.
“There is just a lot of catch-up happening with those sectors and sub-sectors that have really struggled year to date,” US Bank Wealth Management chief investment officer Eric Freedman said.
Utilities lagged the most among major sectors, falling 1 percent.
Positive COVID-19 vaccine updates from drugmakers have raised investor hopes for an economic recovery next year and overshadowed worries over a surge in US infections, helping the major indices to another week of gains.
The Dow was up 1.03 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.67 percent and the NASDAQ rose 2.12 percent.
In company news, Boeing shares fell 1.9 percent as a top company executive said that it is reducing production of its 787 Dreamliner for the fourth time in 18 months.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.54-to-1 ratio; on the NASDAQ, a 2.95-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 50 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the NASDAQ Composite recorded 222 new highs and six new lows.
About 11.4 billion shares changed hands in US exchanges, below the 11.8 billion daily average over the past 20 sessions.
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