Saeed Azhar, Kanchana Chakravarty and Sukriti Gupta
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By Saeed Azhar, Kanchana Chakravarty and Sukriti Gupta
NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday after a better-than-expected jobs report calmed worries about the economy, while Tesla bounced, clawing back some losses from a sharp plunge the previous session. The S&P 500 closed above 6,000 for the first time since Feb. 21, fueled by gains in technology shares.
Investors cheered news citing President Donald Trump as saying three cabinet officials will meet representatives of China in London on June 9 to discuss a trade deal.
"The market will chase the trade deal carrot any time it's available. The trick is whether any actual deal gets done," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.
On Thursday, Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke, after weeks of trade tensions and a battle over critical minerals. They left key issues unresolved for future talks.
In early trading, U.S. data showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 139,000 jobs last month after rising by a downwardly revised 147,000 in April. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing by 130,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate stood at 4.2%, in line with expectations.
Following the report, traders bet that Federal Reserve policymakers have little reason to rush on rate cuts. They are seen waiting until September to cut rates, with just one more cut in view by December, based on interest rate futures. Central bank policymakers meet later this month.
"We expect the Fed to remain on hold at this month's meeting and think a softening in the labor market data is likely required for the Fed to continue its easing cycle," said Lindsay Rosner, head of multi-sector fixed income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Weaker-than-expected private payrolls numbers and surveys on the services sector this week had raised concerns that trade uncertainty could slow the economy.
U.S. equities rallied in May, with the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq scoring their biggest monthly percentage gains since November 2023, thanks to softening of Trump's harsh trade stance and upbeat earnings reports.
On Friday, the S&P 500 hit its highest in over three months, and remained below record highs touched in February by a little more than 2%. The Dow index also rose to a three-month high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 442.88 points, or 1.05%, to 42,762.62, the S&P 500 gained 61.02 points, or 1.03%, to 6,000.32 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 231.50 points, or 1.20%, to 19,529.95.
The S&P gained 1.5% for the week, the Dow 1.17% and Nasdaq 2.18%.
