Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,887 to 711. Industrials surged 1.9% on gains in all 14 industries. The telecom services sector was down 1.6%. For the week, the S&P added 1.3%.
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Shares of SemiLEDS Corp. soared 208% after the LED chips maker late Wednesday said Peter Chiou will buy 577,000 shares of the company’s common stock at $5.00 per share.
Telecommunications, health care, utilities and consumer staples also rose at least 1%. Utilities has been the strongest performer, rising almost 23% over year-ago levels.
Through Friday the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials have gained over 4% for the year, while the Nasdaq Composite still remains negative, down 1%.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 10.26 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 4,869.42.
The nonfarm payrolls report showed the USA created 287,000 jobs last month, versus 175,000 expected by economists surveyed by Reuters. The gain was much bigger than forecasts and the strongest gain in eight months.
Costco rose 4.7 per cent to $163.3 after the company reported strong June comparable sales.
In Japan, Nikkei Stock Average 225 added 0.24%, Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries Index rose 0.20%, while South Korea’s Kospi Index was down 0.29%.
With a very strong report, it’s possible the Federal Reserve may raise rates later this year, but instability in the global economy and financial markets could still make it very hard, said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co.
Investors are no longer pricing in a rate increase this year, according to the CME Fed Watch Tool, having previously anticipated several rate hikes over the course of 2016. Wages are seen as a key measure for the central bank’s analysis, as rising salaries could help bring inflation closer to target and thus justify a rate increase.
The Fed downgraded its outlook on economic growth at last month’s policy meeting and indicated it would await further information about the economic consequences of Brexit should it materialize.
US equity markets advanced on the news, led higher by the financial sector. Data showed Thursday that private payrolls in June rose at the best pace in three months, while the number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits fell last week, suggesting the job market could be rebounding.
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Oil prices fell more than 3 per cent, wiping out early gains after the United States government reported a weekly crude draw that was within analysts’ forecasts, while market optimists expected larger declines.
