After being closed on Thursday due to U.S. Independence Day, the U.S. stock market had a strong trading session on Friday. Nasdaq and S&P 500 have hit new records, while The Dow Jones Industrial also notched up a win.
Let by tech stocks rally, which included Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Apple, the Nasdaq rose by 0.90% or 164.46 points to close at 18,352.76 on Friday. Benchmark S&P 500 closed at 5,567.19 points after jumping 30.17 points or 0.54%.
After slipping down on Wednesday, blue-collar The Dow Jones Industrial ticked up by 67.87 points or 0.17% to close at 39,375.87. Still, the index is yet to get close to its record of 40,003.59 from May.
On a weekly basis, Nasdaq gained 3.5%, S&P 500 climbed 1.95%, and the Dow is up 0.66%.
The rise of US stocks was prompted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report on Friday that indicates a weakening labor market. The investors are now optimistic that the Federal Reserve will start cutting rates rather than later.
“This report puts the Fed in a comfortable spot. If this continues next month, with no increases in hourly wages, then I think we’ll see a rate cut in September and another one in December, “Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, said via Reuters.