Investing.com – US stocks closed at record highs amid risk-on sentiment as a sharp rally in tech stocks offset weakness in banks amid a weak jobs report which reined in expectations for a faster pace of rate hikes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 25,295.39. The S&P 500 closed 0.70% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 7136.56, up 0.83%.
Financials gave up most of Thursday’s gains as expectations for a more aggressive Federal Reserve’s approach to rate hikes were scaled back following non-farm payrolls data which undershot economists’ forecasts.
The negative day for financials comes just a week ahead of a raft of bank earnings on Jan. 12, when JPMorgan and Blackrock (NYSE:BLK) are expected report earnings.
The Labor Departed reported the US economy created just 148,000 jobs in December, below the 190,000 jobs expected by economists, while wage growth, was in line with expectations, rising 0.3%.
The subdued jobs report reduced investor expectations for a more aggressive path to higher interest rates, said TD Securities, as the Federal Reserve would likely need to see more “convincing evidence” of inflationary pressures prior to raising rates in March.
Technology, meanwhile, continued to advance building on gains earlier this week as FANG stocks – an acronym for Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) – closed more than 1% higher lifting the broader market.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) up 4.1%, Visa Inc (NYSE:V) up 2.4% and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) up 1.9%
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) down 0.6%, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) down 0.3%, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) down 0.5%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.