NEW YORK, Feb 4 — Wall Street stocks climbed early today as investors weighed a strong US jobs report against Federal Reserve interest rates expectations, while Amazon surged on strong earnings.
Stocks began trading choppy, but then pushed into positive territory.
About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 per cent to 35,131.09.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 4,491.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.7 per cent to 13,972.20.
The United States added a surprisingly robust 467,000 jobs in January, according to Labor Department data that also significantly raised job figures for November and December.
While the report suggests economic health, it is also expected to prompt the Fed to move aggressively to tighten monetary policy.
That dynamic was highlighted in the jump in 10-year US Treasury yields to around 1.9 per cent.
“Based on the very strong January report, the jobs market has begun bouncing back,” said Beth Ann Bovino, US Chief Economist at S&P Global Ratings.
“It puts the Fed on solid ground to act and we see six rate hikes in 2022 and five between 2023 and the end of 2024.”
Among individual companies, Amazon jumped 10.6 per cent as the company reported stronger-than-expected results despite higher labour, sourcing and delivery costs, with revenues jumping 9 per cent to US$137.4 billion in the fourth quarter. — AFP
