A choppy day of trading on Wall Street ended with slight gains for stocks, as the market notched its second straight winning week.
The market got a boost early on from a closely watched government report that showed US job growth increased at a healthy, but more moderate pace last month. The report supports investors’ hopes that the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates again in its bid to lower inflation.
The report also showed that the unemployment rate rose from 3.5 per cent to 3.8 per cent, the highest level since February 2022, though still low by historical standards. The strong job market, along with consumer spending, has so far helped thwart a recession that analysts expected at some point in 2023. But they also made the central bank’s task of taming inflation more difficult by fuelling wage and price increases.Market jitters over the possibility that the Fed might have to keep interest rates higher for longer — following reports showing the US economy remains remarkably resilient — led to the market’s pullback in August.
Bond yields were mostly rose Friday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tracks expectations for the Fed, got as high as 4.91 per cent at one point, but fell to 4.88 per cent by late afternoon. It was at 4.87 per cent late Thursday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, rose to 4.17 per cent from 4.11 per cent.
The price of US crude oil climbed 2.3 per cent, extending its weekly gain to 7.3 per cent. The increase comes as production cuts by major producers continue to prop up the market. Many industry analysts are expecting to Saudi Arabia to extend those cuts through October.
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