US Stocks close at fresh highs after solid jobs data
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are at record highs, while the Dow is less than half a percent away from its own record. Photo: Reuters
Wall Street rallied on Thursday to record closing highs, as chipmaker Nvidia rose closer to a US$4 trillion valuation and a surprisingly strong US jobs report cheered investors, who shrugged off dimming chances for an interest rate cut this month.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs, notching a third week of gains. The Dow closed up 0.77 percent, only 0.41 percent away from its own record.
Chipmaker Nvidia rose 1.3 percent, putting its market capitalization at US$3.89 trillion. The company is close to overtaking Apple's all-time record and becoming the world's most valuable company in history.
Trading volume was light in a shorter session on the eve of Friday's US Independence Day holiday.
"We are seeing a real bout of irrational exuberance; the stock market is very biased towards optimism," said Kristina Hooper, Chief Market Strategist at Man Group in New York.
"But there's some basis for it. I think there is some level of relief because the jobs report was not as weak as it could have been."
The rally has been fueled by retail investors, who are largely ignoring the inflationary pressure on the horizon, uncertainty around tariffs and "are focused on the tangible, which is today's jobs report," she said.
The S&P 500 gained 51 points, or 0.8 percent , to 6,279 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 207 points, or 1 percent , to 20,601. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 344 points, or 0.8 percent, to 44,828.
Data showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 147,000 jobs last month, 33 percent more than the 110,000 jobs forecasted by economists polled by Reuters.
Unemployment fell to 4.1 percent last month, a better result than the 4.3 percent expected.
After markets closed, Republicans in the US House of Representatives approved President Donald Trump's massive tax-cut and spending bill, an expected outcome.
The legislation will add US$3.4 trillion to the nation's US$36.2 trillion debt, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, and will also push millions of Americans off health insurance. (Reuters)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
27 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Did Trump get his ‘Big Beautiful Bill' at the US dollar's expense?
The passage of a sprawling budget bill has raised concerns over the long-term debt of the United States, which analysts said could compound already heightened worries over the reliability of the country's currency as a safe-haven asset. Advertisement Winning a narrow 218-214 vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday, the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' – which raises spending on border security and defence while making the record tax cuts enacted in 2017 permanent – now heads to US President Donald Trump for his signature, which he is expected to give on Friday. It is also set to raise the federal government's debt ceiling by US$5 trillion, surpassing the US$4 trillion allocated by an earlier version of the bill. This creates more room for the Treasury Department to borrow to repay future obligations, but allows for greater debt accrual in the future. Raymond Yeung, chief Greater China economist at ANZ, said while the bill may lower the immediate risk of a government default, it also deepens worries over US debt sustainability and the interest rate structure. 'In the months leading up to the bill's passage, investors had already been discussing how to diversify risk and reduce their exposure to US dollar assets,' he said. Advertisement Even without the bill, Yeung noted, momentum for diversification has been building in a number of countries.
HKFP
2 hours ago
- HKFP
China says US lifted some export curbs, warns against ‘blackmail'
China said Friday that the United States has eased certain export restrictions in line with a 'hard-won' framework reached at talks last month, warning against 'blackmail and coercion' as the countries attempt to de-escalate a ruinous trade war. 'Currently, both teams are working quickly to implement the results outlined in the London framework', China's commerce ministry said in a statement, referring to the June meetings. Beijing is now 'reviewing applications for export licences of controlled items that meet the requirements', it said. 'The US side is also taking corresponding actions and has lifted a series of restrictive measures against China, the details of which have been communicated to the Chinese side,' it added. The world's two top economies agreed to an outline of a deal to walk back from the brink of staggering tariffs at last month's meetings in London, with concessions including Beijing's resumption of key rare earth exports. Washington has also recently lifted rules for certain exports to China, including by removing licence requirements for shipping ethane to the country, according to a Bloomberg report this week. China's commerce ministry statement added that 'the London framework was hard-won' — and warned that 'blackmail and coercion will lead nowhere'. 'We hope the United States will… continue to work in the same direction as China (and) further correct its erroneous practices.' Prior to the London talks, Beijing and Washington had agreed to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's products. But US officials later accused Beijing of violating the pact and slow-walking its approvals of export licences for rare earths — the global production of which is dominated by China. President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States was 'getting along well with China'.
RTHK
3 hours ago
- RTHK
China imposes anti-dumping duty on EU brandy
China imposes anti-dumping duty on EU brandy The Commerce Ministry says its probe found the dumping of EU brandy threatens the domestic market. File photo: Reuters China said it will impose anti-dumping taxes of up to 34.9 percent on brandy imported from the European Union starting from Saturday, adding to tensions between the major trading partners. Beijing launched an investigation last year into EU brandy, months after the bloc undertook a probe into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies. It said later it had determined in a preliminary ruling that dumping had occurred and imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports. The Commerce Ministry said on Friday that China's tariff commission had "decided to impose anti-dumping duties on imports of relevant brandy originating in the EU from July 5, 2025". "The investigating authority finally ruled that there was dumping of relevant brandy imported from the EU," it said in a statement. "The domestic relevant brandy industry was threatened with substantial damages, and there was a causal relationship between the dumping and that threat." The levies will apply to brandy in containers of less than 200 litres, according to the ministry. It said the tax rate on French liquor giant Jas Hennessy would be 34.9 percent. Remy Martin will be hit with a levy of 34.3 percent, while Martell will be charged 27.7 percent. Some companies that had made minimum price commitments, including Pernod Ricard-owned Martell & Co and Remy Cointreu's Remy Martin, will be spared the higher tariff rate unless those commitments were breached. Monthly cognac exports to China, the world's most valuable market for the spirit, have fallen by as much as 70 percent due to the trade dispute, according to data from the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC), an industry body based in France. (AFP/Reuters)
