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…