Stocks rise following solid jobs report
It looks like good economic news is actually being treated as good news on Wall Street.
Stocks opened sharply higher following a solid February jobs report Friday, with 379,000 jobs added last month. The Dow rose more than 300 points, or 1%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each rose about 1% as well. But stocks pulled back a bit and tempered those gains following the open.
The much bigger than expected jump in the February jobs report didn’t appear to spook the market, which is already on edge about rising inflation pressures as the economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stocks plunged Thursday after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell suggested that the central bank was willing to tolerate higher inflation and rising bond yields.
Tech stocks were hit particularly hard, sending the Nasdaq near correction territory — about 10% below their all-time high.
Yields were up again Friday morning after the jobs report, with the 10-year Treasury inching up to about 1.59%. While that is still historically low, it is a significant spike from levels below 1% at the start of 2021.
