Stocks rose on Friday as the U.S. economy added 139,000 jobs in May, despite uncertainty around tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 500 points higher at the open as investors also weighed the cooling of the public spat between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The benchmark S&P 500 rose 1.1% to touch 6,000, while the Nasdaq Composite edged 1.3% higher.
Wall Street was in an upbeat mood following the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics report. According to details in the release, the U.S. economy showed resilience with an additional 139,000 nonfarm payrolls in May. This was more than the 126,000 jobs economists had forecast.
It follows April’s numbers, which showed 147,000 new nonfarm payrolls, while the U.S. unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2%.
“The economy, despite all of this craziness that we’re getting every day, is still growing,” Stephanie Link,Hightower Advisors chief investment strategist, told CNBC.
May jobs data came in as investors continued to worry about the U.S. economy, with uncertainty around tariffs remaining key to prevailing market sentiment. Stocks also shed some gains on Thursday as a feud between Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla, and President Donald Trump played out on social media.
Notably, Tesla shares, which tanked sharply amid the spat, inched higher in premarket trading. Musk had on Thursday called for Trump’s impeachment as criticism and opposition to the president’s tax bill spilled into threats and counter-threats. In one instance, Trump threatened that the government would end contracts with Musk’s businesses.
As stocks rose on Friday, stablecoin company Circle’s stock continued its uptrend to add to a massive debut on Wall Street. The CRCL shares were up 14% at $94, having closed 168% up following its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, the crypto market was also showing signs of a rebound after crypto bled and Bitcoin (BTC) tanked to lows of $100,400 amid the Trump-Musk feud. BTC price hovered around $103,800 at the time of writing.
