U.S. stock-index futures stayed open long enough Friday for traders to get a look at the March jobs report, extending a modest rise after a much stronger-than-expected jump in nonfarm payrolls.
Cash trading in equities — and most other markets — remained closed due to the Good Friday holiday.
Trading in equity futures closed at 9:15 a.m., 45 minutes after the jobs data. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
rose 153 points, or 0.5%, to 33,190, while S&P 500 futures
ES00,
gained 17.35 points, or 0.4%, to 4,027.25. Nasdaq-100 futures
NQM21,
edged up by 28.25 points, or 0.2%, to 13,344.25.
“We had another banging number today for the U.S. labor market. Clearly the economy is picking up significant steam and there is a lot of optimism.,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in emailed comments. “The data has helped the S&P 500 futures to move higher and it is likely that we are going to see continuation of this upward trend next week.”
Need to Know: Why the jobs report will be important, even if no one is around to trade it
The U.S. added 916,000 in March and the unemployment rate fell to 6% from 6.2%. Job growth was widespread in March, led by gains in leisure and hospitality, public and private education, and construction, the Labor Department report showed.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal had looked for payrolls to rise by 675,000.
See: Friday’s jobs report will be released to a closed stock market—that’s only occurred 12 times since 1980
Major stock index benchmarks, meanwhile, wrapped up a holiday-shortened week on Thursday, with the S&P 500
SPX,
finishing above the 4,000 milestone for the first time. The S&P saw a 1.2% weekly gain, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
rose 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
advanced 2.6%.
Read: Is the stock market open Good Friday? Here are the exchanges closed on the holiday and on Easter Monday
The U.S. Treasury market remained open for the jobs report, with Sifma advising a noon close for cash trade in bonds. The 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
saw some selling after the data, pushing pup the yield by 1.6 basis points to 1.702%, according to FactSet.
A backup in yields over the past several weeks have contributed to a rotation away from technology and other growth stocks toward more cyclically sensitive and value-oriented shares.
Also see: Easter holiday schedule could leave bond traders vulnerable on a blockbuster jobs day
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