Stocks rose on Friday after the U.S. Labor Department reported better-than-expected payrolls numbers in March and a key Federal Reserve official said that the central bank should continue to stimulate the economy with ultra-low interest rates.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 12,376.72, up 56.99 points or 0.5 per cent. Midday gains had sent the index to its highest level during the recovery, but a late afternoon selloff left it just shy of its Feb. 18 high. The broader S&P 500 closed at 1332.41, up 6.58 points or 0.5 per cent. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 14,130.15, up 14.05 points or 0.1 per cent.
Investors were focused on the U.S. payrolls numbers from the start of trading, after the Labor Department reported that the private sector added 230,000 jobs, a gain that was above economists' expectations. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 8.8 per cent from 8.9 per cent.
Initially, the U.S. dollar rose on the report, as some hawkish Fed officials warned that with the economic recovery on track interest rates would likely head higher before the end of the year. However, William Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, weighed in, saying that the central bank is "still very far away" from achieving its mandate of sustainable employment and price stability, according to Reuters. Those comments pushed the U.S. dollar down and sent stocks higher.
Stock exchanges were among the biggest winners, although the moves had nothing to do with the jobs report. NYSE Euronext Inc. rose 12.6 per cent after Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange bid $11.3-billion (U.S.) for the exchange, topping an earlier bid from Deutsche Boerse AG. Nasdaq OMX shares rose 9.3 per cent.
In other moves, economically sensitive stocks showed some of the bigger gains, reflecting renewed confidence in the economic recovery. Caterpillar Inc. rose 1.6 per cent, Ford Motor Co. rose 1.7 per cent, General Electric Co. rose 1.5 per cent and Home Depot Inc. rose 1.4 per cent. However, Intel Corp. fell 2.3 per cent.
Gold producers were weak after the price of gold tumbled to $1428.90 an ounce, down $11. Barrick Gold Corp. fell 1.9 per cent and Kinross Gold Corp. fell 3.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, energy stocks were mixed even as the price of crude oil rose to $107.93 a barrel, hitting a new two-and-a-half year high. Suncor Energy Inc. rose 0.3 per cent and Chevron Corp. rose 0.8 per cent, but Talisman Energy Inc. fell 0.5 per cent and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. fell 1.5 per cent.