[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks advanced on Friday (May 2), notching the second straight week of gains, helped by strong economic data and potential easing of trade tensions between the US and China.
The US economy added 177,000 jobs in April, exceeding expectations, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 per cent. The data helped to assuage concerns of a economic slowdown following a Commerce Department report, showing a contraction in US gross domestic product for the first time in three years, weighed down by a tariff-induced flood of imports.
“The stock market is cheering this morning’s payroll report but I have to point out that job growth did slow on the month and I haven’t seen too many comments about that,” said Talley Leger, chief market strategist at The Wealth Consulting Group.
“I was a bit surprised because I was expecting a sharper slowdown given that non-farm payroll survey happened the week after the tariffs were announced. So I think the market is taking this in a positive light.”
Beijing said on Friday it was evaluating an offer from Washington to hold talks over US President Donald Trump’s 145 per cent tariffs, which he had imposed on Chinese imports.
The tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two largest economies have kept investors on edge, with both sides unwilling to be seen backing down in a trade war that has roiled global markets.
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Still, Trump’s reversal of some tariffs has helped US stock indices recover from recent losses. The S&P 500 has erased the slump set off by Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on Apr 2, with the index now up 0.3 per cent since the close of Apr 2. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was trading at levels last seen before Apr 2.
The S&P 500 also reached its ninth consecutive session of gains, matching a winning streak from 2004, while the Dow hit a nine-day winning streak for the first since December 2023. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 2.9 per cent, the Dow climbed 3 per cent, and the Nasdaq added 3.4 per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 564.47 points or 1.4 per cent to 41,317.43, the S&P 500 gained 82.54 points or 1.5 per cent to 5,686.68 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 266.99 points or 1.5 per cent to 17,977.73.
“I do think what today is saying is that the economy is a lot stronger than people thought and a lot more resilient in the face of all of these tariffs and fears about tariffs,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital in New York.
Apple fell nearly 4 per cent after the iPhone maker trimmed its share buyback programme by US$10 billion and CEO Tim Cook told analysts that tariffs could add about US$900 million in costs this quarter.
Other so-called Magnificent Seven stocks such as Meta Platform rose 4.3 per cent and Nvidia gained 2.6 per cent. Amazon dipped 0.1 per cent.
Chevron rose 1.6 per cent and ExxonMobil gained 0.4 per cent after both energy giants reported quarterly results.
Block slumped 20 per cent after cutting its profit forecast for 2025 and missing estimates for quarterly earnings.
Video game maker Take-Two Interactive fell nearly 7 per cent after it delayed the release of Grand Theft Auto VI to May 2026.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.81-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 144 new highs and 47 new lows on the NYSE.
The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and three new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 51 new highs and 38 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 15.99 billion shares, compared with the 19.3 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. REUTERS
