NEW YORK, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks gained ground on Friday, as a blowout January employment report boosted confidence in the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 134.58 points, or 0.35 percent, to 38,654.42. The S&P 500 added 52.42 points, or 1.07 percent, to 4,958.61, registering an all-time closing high. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 267.31 points, or 1.74 percent, to 15,628.95.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with communication services and consumer discretionary leading the gainers by adding 4.69 percent and 2.49 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, utilities and real estate led the laggards by dropping 1.81 percent and 1.26 percent, respectively.
Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 353,000 for the month, much better than the Dow Jones estimate for 185,000, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate held at 3.7 percent, against the estimate for 3.8 percent.
"This was a blowout jobs report and will vindicate the recent posturing by the Fed which effectively ruled out an interest rate cut in March," said George Mateyo, chief investment officer at Key Private Bank. "Moreover, strong job gains combined with faster than expected wage gains may suggest an additional delay in rate cuts for 2024 and should cause some market participants to recalibrate their thinking."
Bond giant Pimco expects the Federal Reserve to cut its policy rate by only 75 basis points this year after Friday's surprisingly strong jobs report. "We still think real growth and labor markets will cool through 2024," Tiffany Wilding, a Pimco economist, wrote Friday. "Nevertheless, whatever probability one assigned to a March Federal Reserve cut, one now has to further reduce that probability."
Both Meta and Amazon delivered strong quarterly results, exceeding expectations and fueling optimism in the broader market, leading to an uptick for the S&P 500. Meta shares surged more than 20 percent with Amazon shares gaining 7.87 percent on Friday.
"Earnings were strong for most companies this week, and we believe the Fed meeting was bullish because it properly set expectations for May or June rate cuts," said Jay Hatfield, portfolio manager at InfraCap in New York.
