Investing.com - Shares on Wall Street's major market indexes climbed on Friday as the technology sector led gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased about 90 points, with Walt Disney and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) contributing the most gains, lifting it to a new all-time high. The Dow also came within 0.37 points of hitting 20,000, a market landmark.
The S&P 500 increased 0.5%, reaching a new intraday high, with information technology equities advancing 1%.
By the end of trading today, the Dow was at 19978.62, up 0.40%. The Nasdaq closed at 5521.06, up 0.60%. The S&P 500 reached 2276.98, up 0.35%. The Russell 2000 and the volatility index were both down, however, on Friday.
Today's jobs report, as well as optimism about the incoming Trump administration's policies are powering the market.
The Nasdaq composite was even higher, trading 0.8% higher, also hitting a new all-time record. Leading the tech-heavy index higher were the so-called FANG equities, including Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which all increased.
The American economy added just 156,000 jobs in December, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Economists had expected an increase of 178,000. The unemployment rate came in at 4.7 percent, a slight increase.
Last month, President-elect Donald Trump had claimed that U.S. unemployment could be as high as 25%, and that Obama apparatchiks had been dampening down the real figures to make the economy appear to be in better shape that it actually is to casual viewers, i.e. most political reporters and political analysts.