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Financial Markets 05/08 15:36
NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market rose to records Friday following the
latest sign that the nation's job market is doing better than economists
expected.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to an all-time high after a report said U.S.
employers added 115,000 more jobs than they cut last month, even though the war
with Iran is raising fuel costs and uncertainty for everyone. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average edged up by 12 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq
composite rallied 1.7% to its own record.
While hiring slowed from March's level, it was still nearly double what
economists expected. And it helped the S&P 500 close out a sixth straight
winning week, its longest such streak since 2024. The U.S. stock market has
been blasting higher since late March, in part on hopes that the war will not
mean a worst-case scenario for the global economy and that the Strait of Hormuz
will reopen to allow oil tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again.
It's still to be determined if those hopes are warranted or just wishful.
U.S. forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers on Friday after
exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz overnight. It's the
latest flare-up in fighting to raise doubts about the tenuous month-old
ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.2% to settle at $101.29
following the latest volleys of fire. That's below its heights above $119
during the war, but it's still much more expensive than its roughly $70 level
from late February before the fighting began.
One big factor helping to support the U.S. stock market despite the war's
uncertainties is the strong profits that companies have been reporting for the
start of 2026.
Monster Beverage jumped 13.6% after the energy drink maker joined the parade
of companies topping analysts' expectations for profit and revenue for the
latest quarter. It benefited from strong growth outside the United States, and
total net sales from there made up about 45% of its total, the highest
percentage ever for the company.
Akamai Technologies leaped even more, 26.6%, after its results squeaked past
expectations. It announced a $1.8 billion deal to provide cloud infrastructure
services to an unnamed client over seven years. The cybersecurity and cloud
computing company is benefiting from the surge in investment in
artificial-intelligence technology.
Voracious demand for AI helped CoreWeave report revenue for the latest
quarter that was more than double what it was a year earlier, but its net loss
was worse than analysts expected. It also gave a forecasted range for revenue
in the current quarter whose midpoint fell below analysts' expectations. The
stock of the company, which offers AI computing power to customers over the
cloud, fell 11.4%.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 61.82 points to 7,398.93. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 12.19 to 49,609.16, and the Nasdaq composite climbed
440.88 to 26,247.08.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.
Germany's DAX lost 1.3%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 0.9% for two of the
bigger losses.
South Korea's Kospi was an exception, and it inched up 0.1% to another
all-time high.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased and remained lower after a
preliminary report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is stuck near its
lowest level since 2022. Consumers told the survey from the University of
Michigan they're concerned about both high gasoline prices and tariffs, though
their expectations for inflation in the coming year softened by a bit.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.36% from 4.41% late Thursday and
from 4.45% early this week.
Lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans
going to U.S. households and businesses, which in turn can give the economy a
boost. Lower yields also tend to push upward on prices for stocks and other
kinds of investments.
The 10-year Treasury yield, though, remains well above its 3.97% level from
just before the war.
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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
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