Friday’s Gains Help Major Averages As Unemployment Rate Slightly Rises

Stocks closed out June’s first trading week in rally mode. Ken Meyers has your stock market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

The Dow was up 207 points to 15248. The S&P 500 Index gained over 20 points to 1643. The NASDAQ was higher by 45 points to 3469.
Equity markets gained ground as an employment update renewed hopes that the Fed will not taper its bond purchases.
The nonfarm payrolls report topped estimates for May with a gain of 175,000, but came in below this year’s average monthly advance.
In addition, the previous month’s figure was revised lower and the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 7.6%.
Nine of the 10 S&P 500 sectors were higher with cyclicals outperforming defensive issues. Industrials was the best performing group as General Electric gained 2.1% to $23.86 and UPS increased 1.7% to $86.23. Telecommunications lagged behind as AT&T fell 1% to $35.45 and CenturyLink lost 0.4% to $35.36.
Overall, Friday’s gains helped the major averages snap a two-week losing streak. The Dow finished with a weekly advance of 0.9%, the S&P 500 gained 0.8% and the NASDAQ increased 0.4%.
NYSE Composite volume totaled over 3.2 billion shares. On the NYSE, advancers beat decliners by 9-4 on issues and by 3-1 on volume. The NASDAQ was 2-1 positive on issues and 3-1 positive on volume.
In fixed-income, Treasuries erased a weekly advance due to Friday’s retreat. The 10-year note was down 26/32 to yield 2.17% and the 30-year bond lost over a full point and a half to yield 3.34%.

For the complete economic report, click Ken's Market Report.