(Reuters) - Wall Street’s main indexes rose 1% on Friday, as a sharp slowdown in May domestic job growth raised hopes of an interest rate cut, while Washington’s decision to delay tariffs on Chinese goods added to the upbeat mood.
The S&P 500 is up 4.8% this week, putting it on pace for its best weekly gain since November, on rising expectations that the Fed would turn more accommodative to blunt the impact of escalating trade tensions.
A Labor Department report showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 75,000 jobs last month, much smaller than the 185,000 additions estimated by economists in a Reuters poll, suggesting the loss of momentum in economic activity was spreading to the labor market.
“We’ve seen a bit of slowing in jobs growth which will embolden those in the rate cut camp,” said Michael Antonelli, market strategist at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.
Following the week jobs data, traders raised their bets that the Federal Reserve will start cutting rates in July followed by two more rate cuts before the end of the year.
Interest-rate sensitive bank stocks fell 0.40%, but the broader financial sector reversed course to trade marginally higher.
Also helping sentiment, the United States officially granted Chinese exporters two more weeks to get their products into the country before increasing tariffs, according to a U.S. government notice posted online.
“The market is just so sensitive to trade right now that anything that looks positive will have an upsized reaction,” Antonelli said.
Tariff-sensitive Boeing Co and Caterpillar Inc rose about 1%, while industrial stocks gained 1.2%.
At 10:58 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones
