NEW YORK – Key world stock indexes rose on Friday, with U.S. equities near record highs, as data showed the creation of more U.S. jobs than expected, while President Donald Trump’s executive order to review banking regulations boosted financial sector shares.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 227,000 jobs last month, the largest gain in four months, but wages increased only modestly, suggesting there was still some slack in the labor market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 180.42 points, or 0.91 percent, to 20,065.33, the S&P 500 gained 16.7 points, or 0.73 percent, to 2,297.55 and the Nasdaq Composite added 26.64 points, or 0.47 percent, to 5,662.84.
“Continued strong job creation is tempered by the renewed sluggishness in wage growth, raising questions once again about the extent to which the functioning of the labor market has evolved,” said Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz in Newport Beach, California.
The wages data initially pushed U.S. Treasury yields lower, but they reversed that move after comments from San Francisco Fed President John Williams, who said the Fed can prepare to raise interest rates this year without knowing details of any new U.S. fiscal policies because inflation is firming and the labor market looks good, Williams said.
The Treasury yield curve was the steepest in one and a half months on Friday.
The fall in yields helped the dollar erase its early losses. The greenback was marginally higher on the day, but headed for its fourth straight weekly loss.
MSCI’s all-world stock index, which tracks bourses in 46 markets, rose 0.5 percent, on pace for its third day of gains