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© Reuters.Investing.com – Stocks enjoyed their best day since early September Friday as Wall Street was cheered by a solid that saw the hit a milestone low.
The and the jumped 1.42% each. The and indices added 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively.
The S&P 500’s point gain was its best since Aug. 13. The gains for the – about 372 points – and Nasdaq were their best since Sept. 5. The rally cut the Dow’s and S&P 500’s losses for the week to 0.9% and 0.3%, respectively. The Nasdaq finished up 0.5% for the week.
The market managed to weather selloffs on Tuesday and Wednesday that saw the Dow fall more than 838 points. From a low on Thursday as the market reacted to a weaker-than-expected report on the report, the Dow gained more than 847 points at its Friday peak.
The rally was largely computer-driven: The uniformity of the gains and the speed with which they occurred was a clear signal of across-the-board blanket buying.
The rally was set off by that showed payrolls increasing by 136,000 last month and the unemployment rate falling to 3.5%, the lowest in at least 50 years. Bullish as the report sounds, the employment gain was smaller than expected and fell back slightly.
Still, the jobs report was a big relief after early reports this past week suggested a stagnating economy getting close to a recession.
The was led by a 2.8% gain for Apple (NASDAQ:) and a 2.73% gain for pharmaceutical giant Merck (NYSE:). Chemical maker Dow Inc. (NYSE:) was the one decliner for most of the day but finally finished up slightly.
Among the stocks, Apple (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:), along with Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:), contributed more than 47 points to the index’s 116-point gain.
Interest rates fell even as stocks climbed, in part because Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he is looking for ways to boost inflation. The Treasury yield fell to 1.531% from Thursday’s 1.536%.
Crude oil moved higher. was up 36 cents to $52.81. , the global benchmark, rose 66 cents to $58.37. They were off 5.5% and 4.4% respectively for the week.
were down slightly at $1,512.90, but up 0.4% on the week.
Chip maker Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ:), insurance giant Chubb (NYSE:), biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:) and ConAgra Foods (NYSE:) were among the top performers.
Computer maker HP Inc. (NYSE:), oil-and-gas producer Apache (NYSE:), seed-producer Corteva Inc. (NYSE:) and beauty products retailer Ulta Beauty(NASDAQ:) were among the worst S&P 500 performers.
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