Stocks have moved mostly higher in morning trading on Friday, with the major averages once again reaching new record intraday highs. The advance extends a recent upward trend, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 moving higher for the tenth and seventh consecutive sessions, respectively.
Currently, the major averages are hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow is up 323.05 points or 0.9 percent at 36,447.28, the Nasdaq is up 91.58 points or 0.6 percent at 16,031.89 and the S&P 500 is up 33.93 points or 0.7 percent at 4,713.99.
The continued strength on Wall Street comes after the Labor Department released a report showing U.S. employment increased by more than expected in the month of October.
The report said non-farm payroll employment surged up by 531,000 jobs in October after climbing by an upwardly revised 312,000 jobs in September.
Economists had expected employment to jump by 425,000 jobs compared to the addition of 194,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
With employment increasing by more than expected, the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent in October from 4.8 percent in September, hitting its lowest level since March of 2020. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 4.7 percent.
The Labor Department described the job growth as widespread, with notable job gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing.
The upbeat jobs data has added to optimism about the outlook for the economy despite lingering concerns about supply chain issues and rising inflation.
Stocks also continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has lifted the major averages to record highs on largely upbeat earnings news.
Signals the Federal Reserve is not in a hurry to raise interests also continues to generate buying interest even as the central bank begins scaling back its asset purchases.
Housing stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 1.6 percent. In early trading, the index reached a two-month intraday high.
Significant strength is also visible among telecom stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index.
Semiconductor and broker stocks have also moved notably higher in morning trading, while biotechnology stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.6 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has advanced by 0.7 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries are extending the advance seen over the course of the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 4 basis points at 1.484 percent.
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