Stocks on Wall Street recorded their sixth consecutive week of gains, with all three major indexes rising. The Dow saw a slight increase of 0.01%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2% and reached its highest closing level for the year. The Nasdaq Composite had the biggest increase, adding 0.7%.
Friday’s trading session started off uncertainly, but stocks managed to finish with gains as investors analyzed the latest jobs report. The report showed that the US economy added 199,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.7% from the previous month’s 3.9%. Economists had predicted job gains of 180,000 and an unchanged unemployment rate.
Analysts on Wall Street still expect the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates steady at its final policy meeting of the year. However, expectations of a rate cut in March fell from 55% to 44% compared to the previous week. Investors will closely watch the Fed meeting next week for any signals about the future direction of interest rates.
Stocks related to cryptocurrencies experienced gains following Bitcoin’s recent surge to its highest level in over a year. Coinbase shares rose 7.7%, Robinhood Market shares gained 2.2%, and Marathon Digital shares added 8.2%.
In other news, Carrier Global shares jumped 4.5% after the company announced plans to sell its global access solutions business to Honeywell. However, Honeywell shares declined 1.7%.
Overall, the Dow rose by 130 points, or 0.4%, the S&P 500 gained 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.5%. It’s important to note that these levels may change slightly as stocks settle after the trading day.
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