Dow21006 plus 55
S&p 2399 plus 9.77
FTSE 7297 plus 49
DAX12716 plus 69
Gold1227 plus 2.8
Oil 46.22 plus 0.7
AUD$74.17 plus a bit
Jenny Jenny..........dreams are 10 a penny
Stocks broke higher in the afternoon session thanks to a rebound in the price of crude oil and as investors assessed a solid jobs report for April.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.41%, finishing at 2,399, a new record. The Nasdaq added 0.42%, also setting a new record high of 6,100. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.26%.
Crude oil held gains on Friday, a day after settling at its lowest level since Nov. 29. The crude selloff was largely tied to concerns over global oversupply.
Those concerns remained in the background on Friday, though, after oil and natural gas producers in the U.S. rose over the past week. The number of active rigs in the U.S. drilling for crude rose by seven in the past week, bringing the total rig count up to a total of 877 units, according to Baker Hughes. Production has risen for 12 weeks in a row.
West Texas Intermediate crude closed 1.5% higher at $46.22 a barrel on Friday.
Oil saw unusual trading patterns overnight, falling by more than $1 a barrel at one point.
The energy sector was among the best performers on Friday afternoon. Major oil producers including Exxon Mobil (XOM) , Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) , Chevron (CVX) , Total (TOT) , and BP (BP) rose on Friday, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) added 1.7%.
The U.S. economy added 211,000 new jobs in April, according to the Labor Department's nonfarm payrolls report.Around 185,000 jobs are expected to have been added to the U.S. economy in April, according to economists polled by FactSet. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.4% from 4.5%, rather than an anticipated increase to 4.6%. Average hourly wages rose 0.3%, as expected. The March jobs gain was reduced to 79,000 from 98,000, while the February gain was increased to 232,000 from 219,000.
"Today's jobs report continues the long-term trend of U.S. economic recovery and shows that last month's number was an anomaly," said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank. "The unemployment rate hit another new low and wages continue to improve."
The strong April jobs report is something of an outlier with pockets of economic weakness seen elsewhere in recent months.
The better-than-expected April report raised the prospects of an interest rate hike in June from the Federal Reserve. The chances of an increase in the federal funds rate to 1% to 1.25% at the June meeting increased to 79%, according to CME Group fed funds futures. Chances sat at 74% by the end of the day Thursday.
"This is another firm step towards a hike in June," said Luke Bartholomew, Aberdeen Asset Management investment strategist
what we can expect?
Green Green Green
Futures currently up 55 points,
French elections over, and no shock surprises, Le Penn loses, so no spike in Gold
