Stocks - Jobs Report Powers S&P 500, Nasdaq to New Highs

© Reuters.

Investing.com – A better-than-expected jobs report Friday crushed worries about trade disputes and set off a big rally for stocks.

The S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq 100 hit new intraday highs and set closing highs as well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed within 12 points of its closing peak of 27,359.16, reached on July 15.

The S&P 500 was up 0.97%, finishing at 3,066.91. The Nasdaq ended up 1.1% at 8,386.40. The Nasdaq 100 added 0.96% to 8,161.17. The Dow surged more than 301 points, or 1.1% at 27,347.36.

The S&P 100 Index also set a record close, up 0.98% to 1,363.03.

The rally was set off by the Labor Department's report that employers added 128,000 jobs in October, more than expected. The unemployment rate moved up to 3.6%, but economists said that was a function of more people coming into the labor force. Reports in August and September were revised higher, meaning the summer and early fall hiring has been little affected by trade woes or the recently settled General Motors (NYSE:GM) strike.

The report confirms the assessment of many economists and the Federal Reserve that the domestic economy is growing steadily, despite the U.S.-Chine trade fight and slowing economies around the world.

A bevy of stocks hit all-time highs, including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), American States Water (NYSE:AWR), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and United Technologies (NYSE:UTX).

The S&P was led by the energy, industrial, financial, materials and technology sectors. Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) was the top Dow stock, rising nearly 5%.

Chip stocks were big winners, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 2.3% to a record close of 1,689.93. Four of the top five performers among Nasdaq 100 stocks were chip stocks, led by Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ:SWKS), up nearly 8%.

The stocks of both companies with market capitalizations greater than $1 trilflion were higher. Apple was up 2.84%, boosting its market cap to $1.156 trillion. Microsoft, up 0.24%, ended the day with a $1.096 trillion market cap.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), up 22% since the end of August, has seen its market cap grow by $213 billion. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is up by 4.1% in the same time frame. Its market cap is up $43 billion.

For some perspective, the growth in Apple's market cap in the last two months is nearly the same size as the total market cap of Chevron (NYSE:CVX).

Only the utilities and real estate sectors fell back because interest rates moved up with stocks.

The jobs report pushed oil prices up more than 3%. Interest rates moved higher as well, with the 10-Year Treasury yield reaching 1.722%, up from Thursday's 1.691%.