Wall Street rallies as rate cut likely

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose at the open Friday following a weak US jobs report that bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve could soon cut interest rates. The early gains added to the week’s advance following dovish comments from top Fed officials earlier in the week that analysts said opened the door to an interest rate cut in the coming months. About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 25,904.52, up 0.7% from Thursday’s closing level. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.8% to 2,866.06, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.0% to 7,691.27. The US added just 75,000 net new positions in May, less than half the 180,000 economists had been expecting, while unemployment held steady at 3.6%, according to the closely-watched Labor Department data. The report also downgraded the job gains in both March and April, which essentially nullified the May increase. The lacklustre hiring data came as the US is embroiled in multi-front trade negotiations.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8^th, 2019.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.