The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied on Friday after the latest U.S. jobs report raised hope the economy is starting to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
Wall Street was already on pace for solid weekly gains. Entering Friday’s session, the Dow was up 3.5% week to date. The S&P 500 had gained 2.2% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.3%.
U.S. employers added a shocking 2.5 million jobs last month while the unemployment rate slid to 13.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a drop of more than 8 million jobs and the unemployment rate to nearly reach 20%.
The report boosted confidence of a swift economic recovery among traders, leading them into stocks that would benefit the most a broad reopening.
Shares of airlines jumped in premarket trading, adding to their big gains this week, as the industry added more summer flights. American Airlines jumped 28.4% in premarket trading Friday. United Airlines shares surged 20.2%. The US Global Jets ETF is up 27% this week. Cruise-line operators such as Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival both advanced more than 13% while Royal Caribbean gained 9.8%.
MGM Resorts jumped 5.4% in the premarket while Kohl’s and Nordstrom advanced more than 10% each. Mall operator Simon Property gained 7.3%. Stay-at-home winners such as Netflix and Amazon dipped.
