U.S. stocks rise as companies that pay big dividends surge

Associated Press

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rose Friday after the Labor Department said hiring remained solid in July and strong quarterly earnings continued to boost the market.

U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs last month, fewer than analysts expected. But the Labor Department said more jobs were added in May and June than it previously reported. That made up for the shortfall in July.

There was little reaction to China’s threat to put tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods. Larger multinational companies climbed while smaller, U.S.-focused companies lagged the rest of the market. That’s the opposite of what generally happens when investors are worried about trade tensions.

Bond prices edged higher, sending yields lower. Food companies and other big-dividend stocks rose.

Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, said the data show the economy is likely to keep expanding, but it’s not heating up in a way that would push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more quickly. “That’s exactly what the market wants to see. This report is right in the sweet spot.”

The S&P 500 index rose 13.13 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,840.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 136.42 points, or 0.5 percent, to 25,462.58.

Walmart is testing automated carts that retrieve bins of groceries from storage as it tries to speed up the process of packaging online orders to send out or bringing to customers at their cars. The company said it’s working with Alert Innovation