NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday, boosted by better-than-expected job growth in March, which eased concerns of an economic slowdown that have periodically roiled financial markets over the past year.
With Friday’s gains, the benchmark S&P 500 has closed higher for seven trading days in a row, its longest winning streak since October 2017.
The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls rose by 196,000 jobs in March, topping the 180,000 new jobs forecast by economists polled by Reuters. Data for February was revised upward to a gain of 33,000 jobs instead of the previously reported 20,000, the smallest gain since September 2017.
The data provided reassurance two weeks after the yield curve between three-month Treasury bills and 10-year notes briefly inverted, in what is commonly viewed as a sign of an oncoming recession.
“The yield curve inversion freaked people out, got them thinking about a recession,” said Andrew Slimmon, senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in New York. “Data like today’s takes that off the table.”
However, wage increases slowed in March, leaving the data broadly supportive of the Federal Reserve’s decision to suspend its three-year campaign to tighten monetary policy.
A dovish Fed along with hopes for a U.S.-China trade agreement have lifted the S&P 500 to its highest level since Oct. 9, putting the index only 1.3% below its record closing high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 40.36 points, or 0.15%, to 26,424.99, the S&P 500 gained 13.35 points, or 0.46%, to 2,892.74 and the Nasdaq Composite added 46.91 points, or 0.59%, to 7,938.69.
Stocks across the world also got a
