- Major equity indices opened in positive territory on Friday.
- The unemployment rate in the United States fell to 6.3% in January.
- Energy stocks post strong gains after the opening bell.
The main Wall Street indices They started the last day of the week in positive territory with the S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) indices, both hitting new all-time highs at the opening bell. At time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.42% on the day at 31,190, the SPX was up 0.32% at 3,884 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.05% at 13,559.
Hours earlier, data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that nonfarm payrolls (NFPs) in January increased by 49,000. Although the underlying details of the report revealed that the December NFP reading was revised down to -227,000 from -140,000, the unemployment rate improved to 6.3% from 6.7%.
Among the top 11 sectors in the S&P 500, the Energy Index is up 1.4% supported by a more than 1% rise in crude oil prices. On the other hand, the Technology Index is the only major sector that trades in the red.
S&P 500 chart (daily)
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