Stocks marched broadly higher on Wall Street Friday after the government reported that employers added far more jobs than expected in November. The surprisingly good employment picture, along with a boost in consumer confidence, comes at the end of what started as a rough week for the market. Increased trade tensions and disappointing economic data sent the market to steep losses on Monday and Tuesday, and the major indexes stayed in a slump through Thursday. The S&P 500 rose 28 points to 3,145, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 337 to 28,015, and the Nasdaq climbed 85 to 8,656.
The encouraging news offers reassurance for investors who may have been worried that consumers might be pulling back on spending, said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management, per the AP. "Increasing jobs, people back to work, plus that jump in consumer confidence tells you that the consumer is still there, and probably will still spend money," he said. "It's a better than we expected set of data, and clearly the market is pricing that in."
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