U.S. Stocks Mostly Higher As Jobs Data Adds To Interest Rate Optimism

Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Friday, extending the strong upward move seen over the two previous sessions. With the continued advance, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have once again reached new record intraday highs.

The major averages have pulled back off their highs of the session in recent trading but currently remain in positive territory.

The Nasdaq is up 116.87 points or 0.7 percent at 16,390.25 and the S&P 500 is up 21.50 points or 0.4 percent at 5,178.86, while the narrower Dow is posting a more modest gain, up 48.29 points or 0.1 percent at 38,839.64.

The continued strength on Wall Street comes as the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report has added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

While job growth in February came in much stronger than expected, the report also showed notable downward revisions to job growth in the two previous months.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment surged by 275,000 jobs in February, while economists had expected employment to jump by 200,000 jobs.

However, the report also said job growth in December and January was downwardly revised to 290,000 and 229,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 167,000 jobs.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in February from 3.7 percent in January. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to come in unchanged.

The downward revisions and the unexpected increase in the unemployment rate combined with a slowdown in the annual rate of wage growth has added to optimism the Federal Reserve will begin lowering interest rates in June.

“In a market that is highly sensitive to the Fed’s rate easing timetable – this report with wages edging lower and the unemployment rate unexpectedly higher, and with two months of downward revisions – suggests that the Fed could comfortably focus on June to initiate its rate easing cycle,” said Quincy Krosby, Chief Global Strategist for LPL Financial.

Nonetheless, traders seem somewhat reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of key inflation data next week that could have a more profound impact on the outlook for rates.

Despite the advance by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves on the day.

Brokerage stocks are seeing notable strength, however, with the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index climbing by 1.1 percent to a record intraday high.

Interest rate-sensitive commercial real estate stocks are also turning a strong performance, as reflected by the 1.1 percent gain being posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index.

Biotechnology and computer hardware stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while pharmaceutical stocks have moved to the downside.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.2 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite climbed by 0.6 percent and South Korea’s Kospi jumped by 1.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 0.1 and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back near the unchanged line after seeing early strength. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 4.085 percent.