NFP Carries Stocks Higher; Bonds, Gold Routed

Stocks ended higher Friday, carrying the S&P 500 to its second weekly gain in a row following better-than-expected jobs growth during the past two months. Payrolls grew by 195,000 new hires in June, according to the Labor Department, which also added 70,000 new workers to its May non-farm payrolls report. Most industry sectors in the S&P 500 were higher, led by shares of financial and industrial companies. Healthcare stocks also were stronger.

Stocks already were pointing to a higher open prior to Friday's Labor Department report finding U.S. employers hired 190,000 new workers last month, topping consensus expectations by 25,000. The U.S. unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.6%, trailing estimates for 0.1 percentage-point dip to 7.5%.

Bond Selloff
After a brief respite, bonds continued their ongoing selloff Friday, with traders increasingly convinced the improving jobs picture will prompt the Federal Reserve to begin tapering their monthly bond purchases at the September Federal Open Markets Committee meeting. The yield on bellwether 10-year Treasuries - which move in the opposite direction of their price - climbed to 2.7% this afternoon from 2.5% on Wednesday and are now up more than 100 basis points from where they were in mid-May.

Homebuilders And REITs
The spike in bond yields fed a big decline for shares of mortgage real estate investment trusts. Home builders also fell on interest-rate worries. But the U.S. dollar rose, contributing to a 3% decline for gold futures and a nearly 5% slide for silver. Copper fell 3.5%.

Crude oil resisted the downward pressure on commodities, rising another $1.98 to settle at $103.22 per barrel on Mid-East worries fueled by Wednesday's ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.

Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End

• Dow Jones Industrial Average up 147.29 (+0.98%) to 15,135.84
• S&P 500 up 16.48 (+1.02%) to 1,631.89
• Nasdaq Composite Index up 35.71 (+1.04%) to 3,479.38

• Hang Seng Index up 1.89%
• Shanghai China Composite Index up 0.05%
• FTSE 100 Index down 0.56%

• (+) MXT, Inks debt-restructuring and equity buyout by Ventura Capital Privado, with 42% of the holders of $200 mln in debt coming due next year agreeing to a Chapter 11 reorganization of the Mexican telecom company.
• (+) PBMD, Nearly doubles the number of clinical trial sites in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania, and Latvia for its CVac oncology drug candidate.
• (+) YGE, Chinese, EU officials nearing pact on anti-dumping provisions for solar-energy panels, defusing a possibilities of wider trade war.

• (-) DELL, CEO Michael Dell, Silver Lake Partners reportedly won't increase their $13.65-per-share going-private offer to compete with competing bid by Carl Icahn, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with their thinking.
• (-) WLRD, Again delays filing of 10-K annual report.
• (-) ANH, Tumbles to new 52-week low amid a big selloff for mortgage real estate investment trusts with Friday's continued price slide for U.S. Treasuries. Home builders also fell on interest-rate worries.