Wall Street jumps on bets of economy roaring back
Wall Street surged yesterday, and the Nasdaq was on course to set a new record closing high after the May jobs provided an astounding upside surprise and the clearest evidence yet that the US economy is bouncing back sooner than expected from pandemic-related lockdowns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.39 per cent to 27,173.42, the S&P 500 gained 2.81 per cent to 3,199.76 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.16 per cent, to 9,823.18.
The Nasdaq is set to be the first among the three major US stock indexes to reclaim all-time highs reached in February. The S&P 500 and the Dow are now within 6 per cent and 8 per cent of overtaking their record closing levels. The benchmark S&P 500 is within 1 per cent of showing a year-to-date gain.
US Treasury yields rose on the jobs data, giving a boost to interest rate-sensitive banks and sending the S&P 500 Banks index up 5.5 per cent. Airlines, among the hardest hit, soared. Boeing surged 12.2 per cent, giving biggest the blue-chip Dow its biggest boost, on hopes of a pickup in air travel a day after American Airlines Group and United Airlines said they would boost their US flight schedule next month.
Oil climbs 5% on US jobs, Opec+ meeting hopes
Oil prices rose yesterday on the US employment news and Opec’s decision to bring forward to today discussions on whether to extend record production cuts. Brent crude futures settled up 5.8 per cent at $42.30 a barrel, surging 19.2 per cent on the week. US West Texas Intermediate futures rose 5.7 per cent, to $39.55 a barrel, rising 10.7 per cent on the week.
Two Opec+ sources said Saudi Arabia and Russia had agreed to extend deeper cuts until the end of July, but said Riyadh was also pushing to extend them until the end of August. If Opec+ fails to agree to roll over the output curbs, the cut could drop back to 7.7 million bpd from July through December as previously agreed.