NEW YORK, N.Y. – U.S. stocks surged Friday, finishing just short of record highs, as investors responded enthusiastically to a strong June job market report.
The buying accelerated throughout the day after the Labor Department said U.S. employers added 287,000 jobs last month. That was far more than analysts expected, and after weak reports from April and May, it suggests the economy and job market haven’t run out of steam.
“It was a strong report and it put to bed worries that we were seeing the job market sputter,” said Kate Warne, investment strategist for Edward Jones.
Mining and materials companies, which would stand to benefit more than other industries from an accelerating economy, took the biggest gains. Machinery makers also jumped. Only eight stocks on the Standard & Poor’s 500 finished lower.
The Dow Jones industrial average surged 250.86 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 18,146.74. The S&P 500 rose 32 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 2,129.90. The Nasdaq composite advanced 79.95 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 4,956.76.
The government said the unemployment rate rose slightly as more people looked for jobs. There was also evidence wages were rising faster. The April and May reports worried investors, in part because they came after the economy grew just 1.1 per cent over the first three months of 2016. The U.S. economy has been growing for more than six years and investors are wary that that streak could end.
Among material and industrial companies, paint and coatings maker PPG Industries added $3.29, or 3.2 per cent, to $106.32 and aluminum producer Alcoa picked up 48 cents, or 5.2 per cent, to $9.82. Machinery maker Caterpillar climbed $2.32, or 3.1 per cent, to $77.37 and aerospace company Boeing gained $2.92, or 2.3 per cent, to $130.09.
Retailer Gap climbed after it said sales at stores open at least a year grew in June as Old Navy results improved. Sales at those stores are considered an important measure of retailers’ results, and Thomson Reuters said it was the first improvement in that gauge for Gap in more than a year. Analysts expected another decline this month.
Gap stock rose $1.07, or 4.9 per cent, to $22.70. The stock is down 8 per cent this year.
Videoconferencing equipment maker Polycom said it will be taken private by Siris Capital. It accepted an offer from Siris worth $12.50 per share, or $1.7 billion. Polycom accepted an offer from Mitel Networks in April. Polycom stock gained $1.38, or 12.7 per cent, to $12.25. Mitel, which will get a $60 million payment from Polycom, climbed $1.19, or 19.8 per cent, to $7.21.
The S&P 500 is less than a point away from the record high it set in May 2015. The Dow, too, is close to a record. They reached those peaks before investors got very worried about the slowdown in China’s economy, before the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates for the first time in almost nine years, and before anyone thought Britain might really vote to leave the European Union.
While all of those concerns have hurt stocks, they have recovered. But it’s been a very careful, uneasy rally. The stocks that have done the best in the last year are phone companies and utilities, which pay big dividends and are considered safe. U.S. bond yields have set all-time lows in the last few days. Gold is at its highest price in two years.
U.S. economic growth has been steady but uninspiring and corporate profits and revenues are in a slump. But the alternatives don’t look any better. China has been shaky. The economies of Japan and Europe are weak, and the yields on some European bonds are negative as nations try to boost their economic growth. That means investors have to pay to own those bonds. So even if U.S. stocks aren’t setting the world alight, they’ve been good enough.
“I don’t think investors are nearly as excited as they would typically be in an environment where stocks are close to record highs,” said Warne.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.36 per cent from 1.39 per cent. That’s far below the 2.29 per cent level it began the year at. When demand for bonds is high, their prices rise and yields fall. That has the effect of sending interest rates on many kinds of loans including mortgages lower, since those rates are tied to bond yields.
Drug developer Juno Therapeutics said it halted a mid-stage study on a potential leukemia treatment following the deaths of two patients. The study involved the company’s most advanced experimental drug, and Juno said the deaths of the patients came after an additional chemotherapy drug was added to their treatment. The stock sank $13.01, or 31.9 per cent, to $27.81.
Energy prices were slightly higher. Benchmark U.S. crude added 27 cents to $45.41 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a standard for international oil prices, picked up 36 cents to 46.76 a barrel in London.
Gold lost $3.70 to $1,358.40 an ounce. Silver picked up 26 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $20.10 an ounce. Copper held steady at $2.12 a pound.
In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $1.37 a gallon. Heating oil remained at $1.41 a gallon. Natural gas added 2 cents to $2.80 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Germany’s DAX jumped 2.2 per cent and the CAC-40 in France was 1.8 per cent higher. In Britain, the FTSE 100 added 0.9 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.1 per cent down. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.7 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI lost 0.6 per cent.
The dollar fell to 100.46 yen from 100.76 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1049 from $1.1055. The British pound rose to $1.2952 from $1.2896.
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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay
