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New York - Global stocks rose and the dollar
rallied on Friday after US jobs data beat expectations and provided a fresh
sign that the world’s biggest economy is recovering.
US employment grew solidly for a third straight month in February
as employers added 227 000 jobs to their payrolls, the Labor Department said,
even though the unemployment rate held at a three-year low of 8.3%.
The data lifted the dollar to multi-month highs against other
currencies and initially pushed commodity prices lower. Brent oil prices slipped
to around $125 a barrel and gold fell sharply before recovering.
“The pace of job growth we’ve seen in the last six months is
steadier and at a higher level than we saw a year ago,” said Alan Levenson,
chief economist at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore.
“The bottom line to me is... the economy is on firmer footing than
it was a year ago,” he said.
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 51.81 points, or 0.40%, at 12 959.75. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 7.60 points,
or 0.56%, at 1 373.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 12.28 points, or
0.41%, at 2 982.70.
Greece’s winning strong acceptance of its bond swap offer to
private creditors, averting the immediate risk of an uncontrolled default, also
lifted stocks. The market had run up for two days on hopes of success.
The dollar rose against a basket of major currencies, with the
Dollar Index up 1.05% at 79.972.
But the euro tumbled more than 1 percent against the dollar on
concern about heavily indebted euro zone states and a weak growth outlook, which
outweighed relief over Greece completing the bond swap.
Trading, however, was moderate and many market participants were
still on sidelines, according to Michael Woolfolk, currency strategist at BNY
Mellon in New York.
“I think there is cautious optimism, but I think the European debt
crisis is one of the factors that’s keeping people from going all in.”
Global stocks, as measured by the MSCI world equity index were up
0.1%, while Europe’s FTSEurofirst 300 index of blue chip shares, which
had been flat, rose 0.2% after the US jobs data.
Brent crude futures traded near break-even at $125.46 a barrel
after early declines. U.S. light sweet crude oil rose 79 cents to $107.37 a
barrel.
Safe-haven U.S. and German government debt fell. The benchmark
10-year US Treasury note was down 10/32 in price to yield 2.05 percent.
Gold turned positive, up 0.6% to $1,709 an ounce.
