Stocks rose Friday after a blockbuster jobs report boosted investor confidence in the broader U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed over 300 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.9% and 1.2%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled to close out the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.90% or +51.13 points to 5,751.07
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.81% or +341.16 points to 42,352.75
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.22% or +219.37 points to 18,137.85
Moving Markets:
Private Payrolls additions surged past expectations in September, the Labor Department reported Friday, offering another sign that the labor market is remaining strong as the broader U.S. economy remains healthy heading into the fourth-quarter.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 254,000 for the month, up from August's revised print of 159,000 and well above the 150,000 consensus expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate also ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 4.1%.
Job gains were led by restaurants and bars, adding 69,000 positions, while healthcare grew by 45,000, government rose by 31,000, while social assistance and constriction increased by 27,000 and 25,000, respectively.
"It was 'wow' across the board, much stronger than expected," said Kathy Jones, chief fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab, following the report, quoted by CNBC. "The bottom line is it was a very good report. You get upward revisions and it tells you the job market continues to be healthy, and that means the economy is healthy."
East Coast Longshoremen's Strike ended on Thursday, as the roughly 50,000 members workers' union agreed to extend talks until January. This is the first time the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) went on strike since 1977.
"The International Longshoremen's Association and the United States Maritime Alliance, Ltd. have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues," the two parties said in a joint statement.
In the News:
Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) shares plunged lower Friday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the budget airline is in talks over a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice blocked the merger agreement between Spirit and JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) on grounds that the merge would result in higher fares for consumers.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) has temporarily halted vehicle production at two U.S. factories that assemble its heavy-duty trucks and SUVs due to impacts to suppliers stemming from Hurricane Helene and its fallout. The plants impacted are its Flint, Michigan and Arlington, Texas facilities.
"We are working with these suppliers to resume operations as quickly and safely as possible for their employees and communities, as we seek to minimize impacts on our plants," GM said in an emailed statement to CNBC.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) announced Friday a new AI model called Movie Gen that can create new videos, edit existing ones, or adpt images into video form with generated audio clips in response to user prompts, riving models created by OpenAI. The tool, which is not publicly available yet, can create videos up to 16 seconds long that run at 16 frames per second.
For the Week:
Friday's market rally helped erase some losses from earlier this week stemming from increasing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite ticked 0.2% and 0.1% higher for the week, respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was just 0.09% higher.