NEW YORK – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq logged fresh highs on July 5 after official data showed the US labour market cooling steadily – raising expectations of a September interest rate cut.
Wall Street’s major indices closed in the green, with the Nasdaq Composite Index surging 0.9 per cent to 18,352.76 and the S&P 500 Index adding 0.5 per cent to 5,567.19.
Both extended gains after closing records a day earlier.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up by 0.2 per cent to 39,375.87.
The world’s biggest economy added 206,000 jobs in June, slowing from the month prior while the unemployment rate ticked up, the Labour Department said early on July 5.
Wage gains moderated as well, in a trend that fueled optimism of a central bank rate cut in the coming months.
Federal Reserve policymakers have held interest rates at the highest levels in more than two decades to stamp out inflation, and a cooler jobs market could ease concerns over its contribution to price pressures.
US Treasury bond yields, which are closely watched as a proxy for interest rates, pulled back after the jobs report on expectations of a rate reduction.
But weakness seen in the data also sparked some concern over conditions that could translate into lower earnings growth, noted Briefing.com.
Among individual companies, shares of electric carmaker Tesla rose 2.1 per cent.
Chipmaker Nvidia slipped 1.9 per cent after a rare stock downgrade. AFP