US stock market closes Friday’s session on strong note, S&P, Nasdaq hit new highs
(MENAFN) On Friday, US stock markets closed on a strong note, with both the nasdaq and the S&P 500 achieving new record highs, capping off a week of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 67 points, or 0.17 percent, ending the session at 39,375, marking a 0.5 percent increase for the week.
The broader S&P 500 index climbed 30 points, or 0.54 percent, reaching a fresh record peak of 5,567, and recorded a weekly gain of 1.8 percent. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite surged by 164 points, or 0.9 percent, hitting an all-time high of 18,352, with a robust weekly increase of 3.4 percent.
Investor sentiment was buoyed by optimistic reactions to the latest jobs report, which showed the US economy added 206,000 jobs in June, surpassing market expectations of 191,000. However, job additions for May were revised downward by 54,000, highlighting a slight cooling in the pace of job growth.
These positive economic indicators have fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve might consider initiating interest rate cuts as early as September, aiming to support economic momentum amidst signs of moderation in job market dynamics.
Reflecting investor caution, the VIX volatility index, often dubbed the fear index, edged up by 1.1 percent to 12.40. Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note decreased by 1.6 percent to 4.277 percent.
In currency markets, the dollar index declined by 0.25 percent to 104.82, while the euro strengthened by 0.28 percent to USD1.0840 against the greenback. Precious metals saw gains, with gold rising by 1.3 percent to USD2,388 per ounce, and silver increasing by 2.7 percent to USD31.20 per ounce.
However, oil prices experienced a decline, with global benchmark Brent crude dropping to USD86.66 per barrel, down approximately 0.9 percent, and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate falling to USD83.13 per barrel.
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