Stocks up broadly on Wall Street after solid U.S. jobs report

TOKYO –

Stocks rose broadly in morning trading on Wall Street Friday as traders welcomed news of a rebound in hiring by U.S. employers last month.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7% as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern. More than 80% of stocks within the benchmark index gained ground and it is on track for its best week since late June.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 306 points, or 0.9%, to 36,430 and the Nasdaq rose 0.6%.

Small-company stocks did better than the broader market in a sign that investors are confident about economic growth prospects. The Russell 2000 rose 1.3%.

Investors cheered a government update that showed the employment market took another big step toward recovering from the pandemic’s sharp blow more than 18 months ago. America’s employers added 531,000 jobs in October, the most since July, according to the Labor Department. The broader economy spent the first half of 2021 sharply recovering and has since eased its pace, but the job market’s recovery has been much choppier throughout the year.

Technology stocks and companies that rely on direct consumer spending for services and goods made the biggest gains. Chipmaker Nvidia rose 3%.

Online travel company Expedia jumped 12.4% and home-sharing company Airbnb rose 10.7% after reporting surprisingly good financial results. Those results sent an encouraging signal that the beleaguered travel sector is continuing its recovery as the virus pandemic subsides. Cruise line Carnival rose 7.2%, hotel operator Marriott International rose 2.3% and United Airlines rose 4.6%.

High-end exercise equipment maker Peloton, which thrived during the pandemic when people hunkered down at home, plunged 30.3% after cutting its sales forecast.

Health care stocks lagged the broader market, despite Pfizer’s 7.7% jump following the release of encouraging study results show that its experimental antiviral pill for COVID-19 cut rates of hospitalization and death by nearly 90% in high-risk adults.

Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.49% from 1.52% late Thursday.