Stock market today: Wall Street opens higher following signal that labor market is cooling
Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street after a closely watched report showed that the job market, while still healthy, has been showing some signs of cooling
NEW YORK — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street after a closely watched report showed that the job market, while still healthy, has been showing some signs of cooling. That’s leading markets to hope that the Federal Reserve can soon ease up on its campaign to slow down the economy by raising interest rates. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% in the early going. The index is coming off its first monthly loss since February. The Dow rose 144 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.2%. The yield on the two-year Treasury note eased back to 4.81%.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Wall Street followed global markets higher Friday with strong U.S. jobs data boosting shares.
Futures for the Dow and S&P 500 each rose about 0.4% before the bell.
US employers added a solid 187,000 jobs in August, showing how resilient the U.S. labor market is despite an extended campaign by the U.S. Federal Reserve to cool hiring and inflation.
The strong job market, along with consumer spending, has so far helped thwart a recession that analysts expected at some point in 2023. But they also made the Federal Reserve’s task of taming inflation more difficult by fueling wage and price increases.
Market jitters over the possibility that the Federal Reserve might have to keep interest rates higher for longer — following reports showing the U.S. economy remains remarkably resilient — led to the market’s pullback in August after what had been a banner year.
The central bank has raised its main interest rate aggressively since 2022 to the highest level since
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