US stocks end volatile day higher after solid jobs data

Wall Street stocks finished a volatile day sharply higher Friday following good jobs data that was seen as keeping the pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates more.

Friday’s gains ended a four-day losing streaks for stocks, reducing the week’s losses surrounding the Fed’s latest big interest rate hike.

American employers added 261,000 workers last month, far more than economists had forecast, though this eased from a revised 315,000 figure in September.

While strong hiring is normally a sign of economic health, market watchers have been hoping for a weakening in the jobs market as a component that could lead the Fed to moderate its aggressive stance towards fighting inflation.

But after slipping into negative territory, stocks rebounded in the last two hours of trading.

Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said stocks benefited from a buy-the-dip dynamic after losses earlier in the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 1.3 per cent higher at 32,403.22.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.4 per cent to 3,770.55, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 1.3 per cent to 10,475.25.

Notwithstanding concerns about the Fed, the solid jobs data could also be more indicative of a soft landing scenario, said O’Hare, who added that the market was also buoyed by rumours that China could ease its zero-tolerance Covid-19 policy.

Among individual companies, Starbucks shot up nearly nine per cent after reporting better-than-expected profits despite a hit from a drop in China sales.