Investing.com – Wall Street moved higher on Friday on the back of a better-than-expected rise in U.S. manufacturing activity registering its first expansion in seven-months and after a nonfarm payrolls report that showed labor market strength without sparking worries that the Federal Reserve (Fed) could be behind the curve.
At 15:18GMT or 11:18AM ET, the Dow 30 rose 42 points, or 0.24%, while the S&P 500 inched ahead 3 points, or 0.12%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite gained 19 points, or 0.38%.
Despite starting Friday’s session in the red, buyers took to the tape after the publication of the ISM manufacturing for March which not only registered its first expansion in seven-months, but beat expectations.
Although the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 5.0%, with consensus forecasting no change to the February’s read of 4.9%, non-farm payrolls increased by 215,000 jobs in March, beating the consensus estimate for the creation of 205,000 jobs.
“All things considered this was a good number but not too strong where you feel the Fed is behind the curve,” equity trader Mark Kepner from Themis Trading told Bloomberg.
Chicago Fed president Charles Evans had said in various interviews this week that a strengthening of labor market conditions could put a rate hike on the table for the Fed’s June meeting.
In that light, markets will still pay close attention to Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester’s speech to the New York Association for Business Economics at 17:00GMT, or 13:00ET. Mester is known for her hawkish policy stance though, unlike fellow Fed member Esther George, she voted in favor of the last decision to maintain interest rates unchanged.
In other macro news, the Michigan consumer sentiment for March was revised higher, while February construction spending slipped 0.5% in February, missing forecasts for a 0.1% increase.
The slew of data pushed the dollar higher. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.25% at 94.89 at 15:19GMT or 11:19AM ET.
Meanwhile, oil tumbled 4%, on track to tally its first weekly decline since February, after the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman assured Bloomberg that the kingdom would only freeze its production if Iran also did so.
Later on Friday, investors will digest the Baker Hughes data on U.S. rig count after the prior week’s data saw the lowest number of rigs drilling since November 2009. The active rig count acts as a leading indicator of demand for oil products.
Crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.76% to $36.90 a barrel by 15:21GMT or 11:21AM ET, while Brent oil tumbled 4.22% to $38.63.
In company news, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) fell more than 5% in U.S. trade as the Canadian smartphone industry pioneer reported a larger-than-expected drop in revenues.
Both Ford Motor (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) slumped more than 2% after March U.S. sales missed estimates. Most Total U.S. vehicle sales will be released after the market close.
Shares in Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) rose over 3% after the clothing retail chain gave an upbeat quarterly earnings outlook.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE:HOT) fell almost 5% after China’s Angbang Insurance Group finally threw in the towel in its fight with Marriot International (NASDAQ:MAR), withdrawing its acquisition offer.