The Albany Gazette - Stocks rise on US debt breakthrough, jobs data

Wall Street opened in the green following the jobs report after Asian and European stocks had leapt as investors welcomed news that the United States would not run out of money to pay its bills.

Hammered out between Democratic President Joe Biden and the Republicans, the measure passed the Senate on Thursday a day after it had sailed through the House of Representatives, ending months of wrangling and the threat of a potentially catastrophic default.

"The Senate swiftly approved the new debt ceiling deal in the US prompting relief in the markets," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

"A bigger bounce might have been forthcoming had investors not already been very much factoring in an agreement, with only a modest sell-off around the crisis."

Official data released on Friday showed that the United States added 339,000 jobs in May even as the unemployment rate climbed to 3.7 percent and wage gains fell, signalling a persistently strong labour market.

Analysts had expected the Fed to relent on more than a year of interest rate hikes aimed at curbing historically high inflation if the labour market numbers cooled.

The hiring figures will ease concerns about the economy "suffering a hard landing", while the unemployment numbers will assuage some Fed worries about wage inflation and the tightness of the jobs market, said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"It was a report that was the best of both worlds," he added.

- Fed pressure -

But the jobs data, which exceeded expectations and represented an increase on the equivalent figure for April, may push the Fed to hike rates again later this month.

Monetary policy officials have said a softer labour market and much lower inflation were key to the central bank being able to stop lifting borrowing costs.

"The higher-than-expected reading for non-farm payrolls in May... will add pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue its path of increasing rates," said Srijan Katyal at the international brokerage ADSS.

"It's likely that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by at least 25 basis points in when it next meets."

Oil prices meanwhile jumped as traders eyed a weekend output meeting of the OPEC+ grouping of crude producers.

London stocks were also lifted after pet care firm Dechra Pharmaceuticals agreed to a £4.5-billion ($5.6-billion) takeover by Swedish private equity firm EQT and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

- Key figures around 1330 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 33,302.86 points

London - FTSE 100: UP 1.2 percent at 7,578.86

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.6 percent at 7,249.90

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 16,015.15

EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.3 percent at 4,312.61

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 31,524.22 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 4.0 percent at 18,949.94 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 3,230.07 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0773 from $1.0762 on Thursday

Dollar/yen: UP at 139.03 yen from 138.80 yen

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2533 from $1.2526

Euro/pound: UP at 85.92 pence from 85.91 pence

Brent North Sea crude: UP 2.5 percent at $76.10 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.6 percent at $71.91 per barrel

(T.Renner--BBZ)