NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th May, 2021) The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Wall Street's broadest equity barometer, had its best week in three months after a streak of record highs helped by a rebound in industrial and leisure stocks battered by the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
Despite a disappointing US jobs report for April issued on Friday, the Dow hit all-time highs for a fourth time in five days as investors interpreted the data to mean that the Federal Reserve will not be pressured into raising interest rates anytime soon. Easy monetary policy had juiced the US stock market through the pandemic. The Dow reached a new peak at 34,811 points as benchmark Treasury yields, which help influence rates, hit three-month lows.
"US stocks rallied after the disappointing payroll report allowed financial markets to unwind mounting taper tantrum bets that were calling for a Fed pivot," Ed Moya, analyst at New York's OANDA, said on Friday. "This is only one report, but this is changing many traders thinking on how this recovery is unfolding" for industrial and leisure stocks hit by the pandemic.
The Dow closed the session up 0.7 percent, or 230 points, at 34,777. For the week, the index rose 2.7 percent for its best performance since the week ended March 5. For the year, the Dow was up 13.6 percent.
The S&P 500 index, which groups the top 500 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, also hit record highs, closing at a peak of 4,232 for a gain of 0.7 percent, or 31 points, on the day. For the week, the S&P 500 rose 1.1 percent while for the year, it gained 12.7 percent.
The Nasdaq Composite index, which groups Big Tech stocks such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, microsoft and Google, gained 119 points, or 0.9 percent, on the day to close at 13,752. Nasdaq fell 1.5 percent on the week while remaining up 6.7 percent on the year.
