Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, buoyed by data showing a return to growth in the labor market, after the number of US jobs created in June topped expectations suggesting that economic growth remains robust.
The three main U.S. indexes started the session on the front foot, after The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday, nonfarm payrolls grew by 222,000 in June, well above expectations of a 179,000 increase.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, missing analysts’ forecasts of an unchanged reading of 4.3% while Average hourly earnings were up 2.5% year-over-year, below expectations for a 2.6% rise.
Banking stocks, which are widely viewed to benefit from a rising rate environment, ticked higher in the wake of the mostly upbeat jobs report, as investor expectation grew that the Federal Reserve would continue with its plan to raise rates at least once more this year.
Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), closed higher for the session ahead of the second-quarter earnings season which starts in earnest next week.
In corporate news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) snapped a five-day losing streak, closing 1.42% higher at $312.22, however, the electric carmaker’s shares remained in bear-market territory, after falling more than 15% this week amid a downgrade from Goldman Sachs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21,414.34, up about 94 points. The S&P 500 closed 0.64% lower while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6153.08, up about 1%.
‘Bulls and Bears’ on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) up 2.1%, Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) up 1.4% and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), up 1.4%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) down 0.6%, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) down 0.6% and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) down 0.3%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.