Wall Street’s main stock indexes rose after stronger-than-expected March jobs data pointed to resilience in the labour market even as it meant the Federal Reserve would be in no rush to cut interest rates.
Analysts hailed the “beautiful” report from the Labor Department showing nonfarm payrolls increased by 303,000 jobs in March compared with expectations for an increase of 214,000.
The unemployment rate stood at 3.8pc compared with expectations that it would remain steady at 3.9pc, while average wages earned rose 0.3pc on a monthly basis, in line with estimates.
David Waddell, chief executive at Waddell & Associates, said:
The meaningful data point … is average hourly earnings, which have now fallen down to 4.1pc year over year, which is the lowest level since June of 2021.
So the employment report was hot, but it was a cooling inflation report and that’s why the market can digest it .. this doesn’t really change anything.
Money markets are now pricing in about 56pc chance of at least a 25 basis point rate cut from the central bank in June, but have pushed back the point at which they price in the first cut.
Traders now think a first cut is guaranteed to happen by September, compared to July before the jobs report was published.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 51.48 points, or 0.1pc, at 38,648.46, the S&P 500 was up 14.55 points, or 0.3pc, at 5,161.76, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 41.12 points, or 0.3pc, at 16,090.20.
Analysts set out why they think stocks are rising:
