Stock Market Just Had Its Best Day of the Year

Dow jumps 700 points after strong jobs report
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 2, 2023 3:08 PM CDT
Stock Market Just Had Its Best Day of the Year
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Friday, June 2, 2023.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Wall Street ended the week with a bang on Friday, with the major indexes surging after a jobs report that came in much stronger than expected. In fact, this was the market's best day of the year so far, reports CNBC.

  • The Dow rose 701 points, or 2.1%, to 33,762.
  • The S&P 500 rose 61 points, or 1.4%, to 4,282.
  • The Nasdaq rose 139 points, or 1%, to 13,240, for its sixth straight winning week.
  • Not surprisingly, all three indexes were up for the week in the 2% range.

Markets began the day in a good mood because the debt-ceiling deal cleared the Senate. Then came the booming jobs report showing that employers hired 339,000 people in May, far exceeding estimates of 190,000. As the AP puts it, the report "suggested a recession may not be as close as Wall Street had feared." While a hot jobs report might typically make the Fed worried about inflation, investors seem convinced the central bank will keep rates at their current rate later this month. Two big reasons: Wages didn't rise as much as expected on an annual basis, and the unemployment rate actually ticked up more than expected to 3.7%. (The Wall Street Journal explains how the latter happens despite all those hires.)

“The so-called Goldilocks has entered the house,” Terry Sandven of US Bank Wealth Management tells CNBC. “Clearly, on the bullish side, there are signs that inflation is starting to wane, speculation that the Fed is going to move into pause mode, increasing the likelihood of a soft landing.” (More stock market stories.)

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