Alison BloomerAll three major indexes have posted gains for the second straight week, despite volume remaining light with a Labor Day weekend looming.
US unemployment rises
An August jobs report reduced the odds of another rate hike this year. More than 156,000 nonfarm jobs were added in August, but this was below the predicted 180,000 nudging the unemployment rate up to 4.4% from 4.3%. Although seen as disappointing, analysts don’t believe it is the start of a more serious downturn.
Kully Samra, UK managing director at Charles Schwab, said: "It should be viewed in the context of solid US and global economic growth, strong earnings, low inflation and still-ample global liquidity which will likely allow the US rally to continue."
Wages also ticked up less than expected with a rise of 0.1%, versus forecasts of 0.2%. This could be good news for stock prices as it is enough to drive consumer spending, but not enough to force an interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones rose 39.46 points, or 0.18%, to 21,987.56, the S&P 500 gained 4.90 points, or 0.20%, to 2,476.55 and the Nasdaq was up 6.67 points, or 0.1%, to 6,435.33. Most of the major industries were up. Telecommunications fell -0.33%.
