(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* U.S. nonfarm payrolls post biggest gain in 10 months
* Treasury yields jump, bank shares rise
* Ulta Beauty jumps on quarterly profit beat
* Indexes up: Dow 1.2%, S&P 500 0.99%, Nasdaq 1.03%
(Updates to late afternoon, adds dateline, changes byline)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street advanced on Friday
as a robust jobs report and a note of optimism regarding ongoing
U.S.-China trade negotiations enticed buyers to the equities
market.
All three major U.S. stock indexes were firmly in the black,
inching within 1% of record highs set last week.
But as a tumultuous week of contradictory trade news and
mixed economic data drew to a close, only the S&P 500 appeared
poised for a weekly gain. The Dow and the Nasdaq looked set to
post declines from last Friday's close.
The U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs in November, the biggest
increase in 10 months according to the Labor Department, blowing
past analyst estimates. The unemployment rate pulled back to
3.5%. On the trade front, White House economic adviser Larry
Kudlow remarked that while the Dec. 15 deadline is still in
place for the next round of tariffs on Chinese goods to take
effect, "the reality is constructive talks, almost daily talks,
we are, in fact, close." "(The jobs report) certainly contributes to the idea that
the U.S. economy is doing better than most folks would give it
credit for," said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at
State Street Global Advisors in Boston. "This should continue to
help the U.S. consumer in terms of their contribution to
economic growth, not only now but next year as well."
U.S. Treasury yields rose after the strong employment
report, and bank stocks .SPXBK were on track for their best
day in over a month, rising 1.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 331.23 points,
or 1.2%, to 28,009.02, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 30.92 points,
or 0.99%, to 3,148.35 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
88.27 points, or 1.03%, to 8,658.97.
Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, all but utilities
.SPLRCU were trading in positive territory, with energy
.SPNY , financials .SPSY and trade-sensitive industrials
.SPLRCI enjoying the largest percentage gains.
Energy stocks were lifted by a 1.3% rise in crude prices
CLc1 following an agreement between OPEC and its allies to
extend output cuts through 2020. Tariff-vulnerable chip stocks were buoyed by Kudlow's
comments. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX gained
1.7%.
Shares of cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty Inc ULTA.O jumped
13.1%, the best performer in the S&P 500, after beating
quarterly profit expectations. Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 1.9% after revealing it would
receive state subsidies for its Chinese-built Model 3 cars.
3M Co MMM.N advanced 3.9% after Bloomberg reported the
company was exploring a sale of its drug delivery systems
business which could fetch about $1 billion. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.99-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.74-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 53 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 110 new highs and 40 new lows.