Stocks back at record highs after jobs data

NEW YORK » A broad-based push higher for stocks sent indexes to records Thursday following yet more signs that the job market continues to improve.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended at 2,430.06, up 18.26 points, or 0.8 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 135.53, or 0.6 percent, to 21,144.18, and the Nasdaq composite rose 48.31, or 0.8 percent, to 6,246.83. All three indexes set record highs.

Smaller stocks had even bigger gains, and the small-cap Russell 200 index jumped 25.85, or 1.9 percent, to 1,396.06, though it remains shy of its record.

Driving stocks higher was a report indicating that employers picked up their hiring last month. Payroll processor ADP said private businesses added 253,000 jobs in May, more than economists expected. It’s a reassurance, particularly when growth of the overall economy has remained frustratingly tepid.

Other reports on the U.S. economy were mixed on Thursday. Manufacturing growth picked up last month and was stronger than economists were expecting, but construction spending unexpectedly weakened in April.

The stock market’s gains were widespread, and all 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500 rose. Health care and financial stocks led the way. Producers of raw materials and companies that sell non-essentials to consumers were also particularly strong.

Discount retailer Dollar General jumped to one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after it reported stronger earnings for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its shares climbed $4.80, or 6.5 percent, to $78.19.

Deere rose $2.24, or 1.8 percent, to $124.70 after it agreed to buy Wirtgen Group, a German maker of road-construction equipment for about 4.6 billion euros, or $5.2 billion, including debt.

On the other end was Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which fell to the largest loss in the S&P 500 after it reported quarterly results that disappointed investors. Its shares fell $1.29, or 6.9 percent, to $17.52.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.21 percent. A stronger job market gives the Federal Reserve more leeway to raise interest rates, and its next meeting on rate policy is in two weeks. The central bank has been gradually pulling rates off their record low following the Great Recession, and it has raised them twice since December.

The dollar rose to 111.33 Japanese yen from 110.57 yen late Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.1214 from $1.1246, and the British pound dipped to $1.2876 from $1.2892.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 4 cents to settle at $48.36 per barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 13 cents to settle at $50.63 a barrel. Natural gas fell 6 cents to settle at $3.01 per 1,000 cubic feet, heating oil slipped 2 cents to $1.50 per gallon and wholesale gasoline was close to flat at $1.60 per gallon.

Gold fell $5.30 to settle at $1,270.10 per ounce, silver dropped 13 cents to $17.28 per ounce and copper added a penny to $2.59 per pound.