The US markets closed higher on Friday. The major averages extended a recent upward trend, reaching new record closing highs. The continued strength on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing U.S. employment increased by more than expected in the month of October. The report said non-farm payroll employment surged up by 531,000 jobs in October after climbing by an upwardly revised 312,000 jobs in September. Street had expected employment to jump by 425,000 jobs compared to the addition of 194,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. With employment increasing by more than expected, the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent in October from 4.8 percent in September, hitting its lowest level since March of 2020. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 4.7 percent.
The Labor Department described the job growth as widespread, with notable job gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing. The upbeat jobs data added to optimism about the outlook for the economy despite lingering concerns about supply chain issues and rising inflation. Stocks also continued to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has lifted the major averages to record highs on largely upbeat earnings news. Signals the Federal Reserve is not in a hurry to raise interests also continued to generate buying interest even as the central bank begins scaling back its asset purchases.
Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 203.72 points or 0.56 percent to 36,327.95, Nasdaq rose 31.28 points or 0.20 percent to 15,971.59 and S&P 500 was up by 17.47 points or 0.37 percent to 4,697.53.