Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
The S&P 500 rose on Friday after an expectation-defying jobs report gave investors confidence around the health of the economy.
The broad index rose 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 220 points, or 0.5%.
Stocks rallied after data showed nonfarm payrolls grew by 254,000 jobs in September, far outpacing the forecasted gain of 150,000 from economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% despite expectations for it to hold steady at 4.2%.
“After a summer of weak labor data readings, this is a reassuring reading that the U.S. economy remains resilient, supported by a healthy labor market,” said Michelle Cluver, head of ETF model portfolios at Global X. “We remain in an environment where good economic news is good news for the equity market as it increases the potential for a soft landing.”
Tesla, Amazon and Netflix were among the megacap tech names climbing on Friday, which can partially explain the Nasdaq’s outperformance. On the other end of the spectrum, small cap stocks also rallied, with the Russell 2000 up more than 1%.
Friday’s bounce helped erase losses seen in recent days. Mounting geopolitical tensions in the Middle East gave way to a shaky start in October for stocks, a turn after the market posted an unusually strong first nine months of the year.
The S&P 500 500 was up 0.1% on the week, while the Dow and Nasdaq flickered around flat.
Crude oil prices rose again on Friday, bringing the week-to-date gain close to 9%. Oil has been pushed higher as a result of intensifying conflict in the Middle East after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel.
Energy stocks have jumped this week as oil rallied, with the S&P 500 sector up more than 7%. With that, the group is on pace to notch its biggest weekly gain in almost two years.
