NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th June, 2020) Stocks on Wall Street increased on Friday after surprise US jobs gains in May signaled recovery from the novel coronavirus pandemic, with the key Dow Jones Industrial Average index rising 3 percent to top out its best week in two months.
The Dow, the broadest equities gauge on the New York Stock Exchange, settled the day up almost 830 points at 27,111 points. The Dow also rose nearly 7 percent on the week for its best week since the first week of April.
The S&P 500, a barometer for the top 500 US stocks, settled up 2.5 percent on the day at 3,192.� The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished up 2.1 percent at 9,814.
The rally came after the US Labor Department reported that 2.5 million Americans re-entered the workforce in April. The report negated the expectations by some economists that another 8 million jobs were lost last month amid the pandemic.
"US stocks continue to rock and roll after a better than expected nonfarm payroll report," OANDA analyst Ed Moya said. "This report was supposed to provide a baseline on how bad things got and not that the recovery was already taking hold in May."
With Friday's rally, the Dow is down just 5 percent on the year, versus the annual drop of 36 percent seen three months ago. The S&P 500 is down 1.2 percent on the year, after an annual plunge of 33 percent in March, at the height of the novel coronavirus lockdowns. The Nasdaq is already up more than 9 percent on the year.
