Stocks have made a move back towards the highs set earlier in the day in mid-afternoon trading on Friday but have encountered some resistance. Better than expected jobs data has driven the day's buying, while a weak reading on service sector activity has moderated the upside.
The Dow is currently up 108.72 points or 1.1 percent at 10,428.82, the Nasdaq is up 29.40 points or 1.3 percent at 2,229.41 and the S&P 500 is up 12.87 points or 1.2 percent at 1,102.97.
This morning, the Labor Department said that non-farm payroll employment fell by 54,000 jobs in August, matching the revised decrease seen in July. Economists had expected employment to fall by about 120,000 jobs compared to the loss of 131,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
While government employment showed a notable decrease due to the elimination of 114,00 temporary census jobs, private sector employment increased for the eight consecutive month, rising by 67,000 jobs.
Despite the smaller than expected decrease in non-farm employment, the unemployment rate still edged up to 9.6 percent in August from 9.5 percent in July. The modest increase in the unemployment rate came in line with economist estimates.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing index fell to 51.5 in August from 54.3 in July, although a reading above 50 indicates continued growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to show a more modest decrease to a reading of 53.0.
With the bigger than expected decrease, the non-manufacturing index fell to its lowest level since coming in at 50.5 in January.
Dow Components
Nearly all of the Dow components are seeing gains in mid-afternoon trading, helping the blue chip index to a triple-digit gain.
Caterpillar (CAT) is one of the leading percentage gainers in the Dow, rising by 2.6 percent. The advance has shares of the construction machinery maker on pace for a three-week closing high.
Cisco (CSCO) is also turning in a strong performance, advancing by 2.6 percent as it bounces back from Tuesday's thirteen-month closing low.
JP Morgan Chase (JPM), American Express (AXP), Boeing (BA) and Disney (DIS) are among the other leaders in the Dow, while modest weakness is visible among shares of McDonald's (MCD) and Verizon (VZ).
Sector News
Electronic storage, railroad, banking and semiconductor stocks remain sharply higher, while considerable strength is also visible among chemical stocks.
The S&P Chemical Index is up by 1.3 percent, helped by shares of Eastman Chemical Co. (EMN), which have gained 2.6 percent. The advance has the stock on pace for a four-month closing high.
Defense, airline and housing stocks are also markedly higher, further chipping in to today's strong gains by the major averages.
Other Markets
Overseas, stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region ended mostly higher to close out the week. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Index gained 0.6 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index moved up by 0.5 percent.
The major European markets also closed notably higher. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index, and the French CAC 40 Index both gained 1.1 percent, while the German DAX Index rose by 0.8 percent.
In the bond markets, treasuries remain on pace for a notably lower close. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is trading at 2.708 percent, posting a gain of 8 basis points.
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