Wall Street stocks concluded a strong week on a winning note Friday, notching solid gains on good US jobs data and improving sentiment about US-China trade talks.
The world’s largest economy added 177,000 jobs last month, down slightly from the level in March but above analyst expectations.
Meanwhile, China said it is evaluating a US offer for negotiations on tariffs but insisted Washington must be ready to scrap levies.
“There has been incremental news in the direction that trade talks are progressing behind the scenes,” said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management.
The broad-based S&P 500 ended the day up 1.4 percent and the week up 2.9 percent, closing at 5,686.67.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index surged 1.5 percent to 17,977.73, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.4 percent to 41,317.43.
In a week filled with important economic indicators, Cahill said Friday’s job report supported the most of the data earlier.
“The news this week was on the bullish side when you add it all up,” Cahill said.
All 11 sectors in the S&P 500 finished in the green. Large and influential tech companies including Microsoft, Facebook parent Meta and Nvidia posted strong gains.
Apple reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings among the individual firms that released their results, but shares fell 3.7 percent when the company warned of a $900 million hit from tariffs in the current quarter.
Despite reporting a nine percent increase in first-quarter revenue, Amazon’s stock fell 0.1 percent as it predicted lower-than-expected revenues due to tariffs.
Grand Theft Auto VI, the most recent installment of the well-known video game franchise, was delayed, and Take-Two Interactive saw a 6.7% drop in opening trade on Friday.
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