Stocks, dollar higher in wake of US jobs report
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NEW YORK/LONDON, Jan 9 : Stock indexes gained and the dollar was higher on Friday after data showed the U.S. economy created fewer jobs than expected in December, supporting the view the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged this month.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly report showed 50,000 workers were added to nonfarm payrolls in December, compared with expectations in a Reuters poll for a rise of 60,000, just above November's downwardly revised increase of 56,000. The unemployment rate eased, as expected, to 4.4 per cent.
Fed funds futures traders are now pricing in only a 4.8 per cent chance of a rate cut at the Fed's January 27-28 meeting, down from 11.6 per cent before the data. The next cut appears unlikely before at least April.
"Payrolls were a little bit light relative to consensus, but still fairly strong numbers," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.
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"We are back to normal in terms of economic reporting so that's a bit of a relief for everyone."
The release of U.S. economic data had been delayed because of the long federal government shutdown.
The S&P 500 hit a record intraday high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 213.52 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 49,480.41, the S&P 500 rose 35.68 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 6,957.36 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 161.99 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 23,640.92.
All three indexes are set for weekly gains in the first full trading week of 2026, with the Dow on track for its biggest weekly gain since the last week of November.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 4.55 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 1,034.00.The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.96 per cent.
DOLLAR UP, YIELDS DOWN
After the jobs report the dollar initially gave up almost all the day's gains versus a basket of major currencies, having risen by nearly 0.2 per cent earlier. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, was last up 0.28 per cent to 99.16.
U.S. Treasury yields were down slightly after initially rising on the data. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 1.2 basis points to 4.171 per cent, from 4.183 per cent late on Thursday.
SUPREME COURT WON'T RULE ON TRUMP'S TARIFFS FRIDAY
Investors had been bracing for a possible U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the legality of President Donald Trump's tariffs.
But the court is expected to issue its next rulings on January 14. The court indicated on its website on Friday that it could release decisions in argued cases when the justices take the bench during a scheduled sitting next Wednesday.
In commodities, crude oil was sharply higher. U.S. crude rose 2.87 per cent to $59.42 a barrel and Brent rose to $63.53 per barrel, up 2.48 per cent on the day.
Investors have become more convinced that production in Venezuela, even under U.S. control, may not rise meaningfully for some time.
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