Easing Interest Rate Concerns Contribute To Strength On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - After moving to the upside early in the session, stocks remained mostly higher throughout the trading day on Friday. The major averages all ended the day in positive territory, with the S&P 500 reaching a new record closing high.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way higher, jumping 342.26 points or 1.3 percent to 26,690.62. The S&P 500 also climbed 47.68 points or 0.6 percent to 7,757.64, while the narrower Dow rose 151.83 points or 0.3 percent to 54,036.93.

For the week, the Nasdaq spiked by 5.2 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow surged by 3.6 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

The strength on Wall Street came amid easing concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the Labor Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest decrease in U.S. employment in the month of July.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment fell by 23,000 jobs in July after rising by a downwardly revised 20,000 jobs in June.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 88,000 jobs compared to the addition of 57,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

While the report points to some weakness in the labor market, the data is also seen as decreasing the chances of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates next month.

According to CME Group's FedWatch tool, the chances the Fed will raise rates by a quarter point next month have tumbled to 44 percent from 55 percent on Thursday and 67 percent a week ago.