Investing.com – Wall Street surged on Friday after an upbeat jobs report, increasing optimism about the U.S. economy and easing concerns about inflation.
The S&P 500 was up 13 points or 0.50% to 2,752.62 as of 9:38 AM ET (14:38 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 140 points or 0.57% to 25,036.17, and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite rose 43 points or 0.59% to 7,471.60.
The economy added Nonfarm Payrolls 313,000 jobs in February, which was more jobs than expected, according to data released payrolls processor ADP on Friday. Hourly average earnings rose 0.1% month-on-month, below a forecast of 0.2%. The low earnings numbers eased investor concern about the possibility of rising inflation. Earnings is one indicator of inflation.
AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS) was among the biggest gainers after the morning bell, surging 2.20% after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an expected declaration that implements a 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminum imports, which is expected to help U.S. steel firms. Meanwhile Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) rose 1.56% while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was up 1.01% and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) gained 1.36%.
Elsewhere luxury car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 1.09% after its chief accounting officer left the company while Ford Motor (NYSE:F) dipped 0.38%.
In Europe stocks were mixed. In Germany the DAX fell 21 points or 0.20% while France’s CAC 40 increased 17 points or 0.33% and in London the FTSE 100 gained six points or 0.09%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was up 16 points or 0.17% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 inched up five points or 0.17%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.34% to $1,317.20 a troy ounce while crude oil futures surged 1.33% to $60.92 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rallied 0.08% to 90.18.