Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed at record highs on Friday, shrugging off a jobs report that failed to match expectations while energy stocks came under pressure as oil prices fell more than 1%.
The U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs in May, well below forecasts of 185,000 new jobs while the unemployment rate fell to a 16-year low of 4.3%, the Labor Department said on Friday.
The dip in the pace of U.S. job creation failed to deter traders’ expectations that the Federal would hike its benchmark rate in June – according to investing.com’s fed rate monitor tool nearly 90% of traders expect a rate hike in June compared to about 75% of traders in the previous week.
“We know the Fed is more than happy to look through this kind of thing,” Saxo Bank head FX Strategy John Hardy said on Friday.
On the corporate earnings front, share of Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) closed more than 10% higher, after the popular athletic wear apparel maker announced that it is shutting down 40 of its 50 Ivivva stores, citing years of operational losses.
In other news, crude futures extended losses on Friday, as fears that the U.S could ramp-up production weighed on oil prices amid President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for July delivery fell 70 cents to settle at $47.66 a barrel.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched 62 points to close at 21,206.29. The S&P 500 closed 0.35% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6305.80, up 0.94%
The ‘Bulls and Bears’ on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) up 1.4%, Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) up 1.6%, while American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) rose 1.5%.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) down 1.5%, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) down 1.1% and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) down 1%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.