U.S. Stocks End First Up Week In Three

U.S. stocks closed broadly higher, Friday, boosted by better-than-expected jobs growth during May. The close was the first weekly gain in three weeks for the whipsawed American markets. All 10 sectors in the S&P 500 were higher, Friday, led by shares of industrial and consumer discretionary companies as well as by financial stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 207.50 points, or 1.4%, to 15,248.12. The S&P 500 index gained 20.82 points, 1.3%, to close at 1,643.38, while the Nasdaq Composite picked up 45.16 points, or 1.3%, to end the week at 3,469.21.

U.S. Jobs
Employers added 175,000 new workers last month, topping expert opinion looking for 159,000 May hires. The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 7.6%, although most traders saw that as a positive sign because the rise resulted from more people entering the workforce rather than job cuts. But while the latest payrolls report was largely greeted as good news, it didn't appear to be too good as to prod the Federal Reserve to soon begin cutting back on its monthly purchases of bonds to pump additional liquidity into the U.S. economy. For example, analysts at CIBC World Markets said, "U.S. job creation looked reasonably healthy, particularly in the wake of a series of other reports calling the pace of the recovery in question."

The CIBC analysts also said the report would be bullish for equities "and perhaps a slight negative for bonds, reviving chatter about tapering later this year."

Revisions in the latest payrolls report trimmed a total of 12,000 jobs from the prior two report. It also indicated U.S. factories continue to be pinched by Europe's debt crisis, with manufacturing employment declining by 8,000 jobs last month. Conversely, the biggest job gains were in professional and business services, with the leisure and hospitality industry also showing strength along with the retail and construction sectors.

Average hourly earnings also were little changed in May, with earnings climbing just 2% over the past 12 months.

FX And Commodities
The dollar rose against most other currencies following today's jobs report while bond prices and precious metals fell. August gold settled $32.70 lower to $1,383 per ounce while July silver fell 96 cents to $21.74 per ounce. July copper slid 5 cents at $3.27 per pound. Crude oil for July delivery (CLN13.NYM) settled $1.21 higher at $96.03 per barrel while July natural gas (NGN13.NYM) was unchanged at $3.83 per 1 mln BTU.

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

• Dow Jones Industrial Average up 207.50 (+1.38%) to 15,248.12
• S&P 500 up up 20.82 (+1.28%) to 1,643.38
• Nasdaq Composite Index up 45.17 (+1.32%) to 3,469.22

• Hang Seng Index down 1.21%
• Shanghai China Composite Index down 1.39%
• FTSE 100 Index up 1.20%

• (+) TXTR, Shares surge in first-day of public trading after the maker of project-management software late yesterday priced its initial pubic offering of 5 mln shares of its common stock at $15 apiece.
• (+) JKS, Narrows Q1 net loss to $0.92 per ADS, down from $2.55 per ADS last year and beating the analyst consensus by $0.74 per ADS. Revenue climbs 9.7% to $187.3 mln, topping analyst forecasts by $19.05 mln.
• (+) ELN, Royalty Pharma increases buyout offer by as much as $3 to $15.50 per share, now offering $13.00 per share for the Irish drug-maker - up from its previous $12.50 per share - as well as a contingent value right worth up to $2.50 per share.

• (-) TIVO, Settles patent fight with Google's (GOOG) Motorola Mobility unit that was scheduled to go to trial next week. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
• (-) IRM, Said a review by U.S. tax authorities could delay the document-storage company's plan to convert into a real estate investment trust, with IRS "tentatively adverse" to a ruling IRM's racking structures constitute "real estate" for REIT purposes.
• (-) ZQK, Reports Q2 net loss of $0.12 per share, well under Wall Expectations for a $0.04 per share profit. Net sales of $458.7 mln trail analyst consensus by $46.3 mln.