Kristina Roberts
The U.S. stock market ended the week on a positive note, thanks to new job numbers and signs of progress in trade talks with China. On Friday, all three major stock indexes closed higher. Investors were encouraged by a better-than-expected employment report, which helped ease fears about a weakening economy. At the same time, there was fresh hope for better relations between the U.S. and China, adding to the optimism in the market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average went up by more than 442 points, the S&P 500 climbed over 61 points, and the Nasdaq rose by 231 points. This meant gains of over 1% for each of the indexes. The S&P 500 even crossed the 6,000 mark for the first time since February, a sign that investors are feeling confident again. Many tech stocks helped push these gains, especially after a very shaky day earlier in the week.
One of the key moments that helped push markets upward was the release of the latest U.S. jobs report. It showed that the country added 139,000 jobs in May, which was more than experts had predicted. April’s number was revised slightly down to 147,000. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 4.2%, which was exactly what economists had expected. These numbers gave traders some relief because they showed the job market is still doing fairly well, even though there are some signs of slowing down.
Because of this job report, many traders believe that the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is in charge of setting interest rates, is not likely to cut rates anytime soon. Instead, most people expect the Fed to wait until September to consider lowering rates. Lindsay Rosner, a financial expert, explained, “We expect the Fed to remain on hold at this month’s meeting and think a softening in the labor market data is likely required for the Fed to continue its easing cycle.” This means the Fed will probably wait for the job market to show more weakness before it lowers interest rates again.
Another reason the market was in a good mood was news about a possible meeting between top U.S. officials and Chinese leaders. President Donald Trump said that three of his cabinet members will meet Chinese officials in London on June 9 to talk about trade. This is a positive step after many weeks of tension between the two countries. There have been fights over things like taxes on goods and the supply of important minerals. Even though President Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping spoke recently, many important issues are still not solved. However, investors are hopeful that the upcoming meeting could bring better news.
As one financial expert named Jamie Cox put it, “The market will chase the trade deal carrot any time it’s available. The trick is whether any actual deal gets done.” His comment shows that people in the market are quick to react to any hope of a deal, but they also know that real progress might still take time.
Tech companies had a good day in the market. Tesla’s shares went up by 3.8% after dropping by around 15% the day before. This drop happened during a public argument between President Trump and Elon Musk, the head of Tesla. Trump had even threatened to cancel government contracts with Musk’s companies. But on Friday, Tesla bounced back, which gave investors some relief.
Other big companies in the tech world also saw their stock prices go up. Amazon rose by 2.7%, and Alphabet, which owns Google, went up by more than 3%. These gains helped lift the Nasdaq index and gave the overall market a strong push.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo, one of the biggest U.S. banks, saw its shares climb by 1.9%. A ratings agency had recently improved its outlook for the bank from “stable” to “positive.” Also, earlier this week, the bank was released from a limit on the amount of money it could hold, which made investors even happier.
But not all companies had a good day. Broadcom, a company that makes computer chips, saw its shares fall by 5%. Even though it gave a forecast for its earnings, investors were not impressed. Another company, Lululemon, which sells sports clothing, had a much worse day. Its stock dropped nearly 20% after it said it would not make as much profit this year. The company blamed higher costs, especially from new tariffs, for its lower expectations.
Despite these losses, the overall market mood was positive. In fact, more companies saw their shares go up than down. On the New York Stock Exchange, for every one company that lost value, more than two gained. On the Nasdaq, the number of companies gaining value was even higher compared to those falling. This shows that most investors were feeling upbeat.
Throughout the week, the market had been showing signs of recovery. In May, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq had their biggest gains since November 2023. Much of this was because President Trump had softened some of his earlier tough statements on trade. On top of that, many companies had reported good earnings, which helped give investors more confidence.
Even though the S&P 500 is still slightly below its record highs from earlier in the year, Friday’s performance was the strongest in over three months. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.5%, the Dow rose by 1.17%, and the Nasdaq went up by 2.18%. These numbers show that investors are starting to feel more hopeful about where things are going.
Even with all the good news, trading volume was a bit lower than usual. About 14.5 billion shares were traded across U.S. exchanges, compared to the average of 17.8 billion in the past few weeks. This means fewer people were trading, but those who did were mostly buying.
To sum it up, the U.S. stock market had a strong finish to the week. A solid jobs report gave traders confidence in the economy, and talks of improved trade relations with China added more hope. Even though some companies didn’t perform well, the overall feeling in the market was positive. Investors will now look ahead to see if the Federal Reserve makes any changes to interest rates, and whether U.S.-China talks bring any real progress. For now, though, it seems like a bit of sunshine has returned to Wall Street.
