NEW YORK, June 7 (UPI) — U.S. stocks rallied Friday on the U.S. jobs report, as the Dow Jones industrial average added nearly 208 points for its best trading day since Jan. 2.
The Dow rose 207.50 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 15,248.12.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 picked up 20.82 points, or 1.3 percent, to finish at 1,643.38.
The Nasdaq composite gained 45.16 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,469.21.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,115 issues advanced and 958 declined on total volume of nearly 3.37 billion shares.
The U.S. Labor Department said the unemployment rate crept to 7.6 percent in May from 7.5 percent the previous month, while non-farm employment rose by 175,000 jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported both the number of unemployed people, at 11.8 million, and the unemployment rate were essentially unchanged in May from April.
“I think the markets are finally rediscovering risk, after abnormally low volatility over the last several months,” Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank, told MarketWatch.com.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index shed 0.21 percent to close at 12,877.53 and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng fell 1.21 percent to 21,575.26. In Britain, the FTSE 100 gained 1.2 percent to close at 6,411.99 while the German DAX rose 1.92 percent to 8,254.68.
The 10-year treasury note yielded 2.179 percent.
Crude oil prices closed at $96.03 a barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, adding a $1.27 during the session.
Gold shed $32.80 to settle at $1,383 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On currency markets, the euro fell to $1.322 Friday from $1.324 Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was higher at 97.48 from 97.41 yen.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, Corn finished up 3 cents at $6.66 1/4, while soybeans gained 1 cent to close at $15.28 1/4 and wheat dropped 1.5 cents to finish at $6.96 1/4.
Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
