*
US jobs growth far better than expected last month
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Treasury yields up as Fed rate cut views fade for July
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Dollar flat, oil bounces, Apple boosts stock indexes
(Updates prices in paragraphs 10 through 12, and in paragraphs
15 through 17, adds comments in paragraph 7)
By Sinéad Carew and Naomi Rovnick
NEW YORK/LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - A global gauge of
stocks rallied and U.S. Treasuries and gold sold off on Friday
as strong U.S. jobs data brightened the economic outlook and
traders pared expectations of Federal Reserve easing after a
long spate of rate hikes.
The non-farms payroll report showed U.S. employers added
253,000 new jobs in April, up from 165,000 in March and
exceeding expectations for 180,000.
U.S. Treasury yields rose after the report while the dollar
was down very slightly against a basket of major currencies.
Oil prices jumped on signs of economic strength, but remained on track for a weekly decline. Shares in U.S. banks also erased some losses after a rough week following the collapse of a third major bank.
Since Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank could pause hikes traders have been betting this would happen at the June meeting with some even calling for rate cuts in July, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. After Friday's data, the probability for a July cut declined.
But still Friday's trading suggested relief at signs of economic strength that eased worries about prospects of a recession rather than fears of tighter policy, which often come with stronger than expected data. "The pause button has likely been pressed and now it's about the state of the U.S. economy and what we saw today suggests it's in a better position that previously expected," said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco, New York. "The caveats are that one data point does not a picture paint and, to a large extent, employment is a lagging indicator for the state of the economy." But while decent growth may not lead to more tightening in the short run Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in Charlotte, NC, disagrees with the market's "Goldilocks scenario" where growth slows without a hard recession and the Fed can ease policy quickly. "If the Fed is cutting rates aggressively in the back half of the year, something has gone very wrong economically," he said adding that, for now, the market has a short term focus.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe was gaining 1.57% and on track for its biggest one-day
percentage gain since January 6.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 576.25 points, or 1.74%, to 33,703.99, the S&P 500 gained 80.24 points, or 1.98%, to 4,141.46 and the Nasdaq Composite added 282.82 points, or 2.36%, to 12,249.22. Under the hood, oil's rebound helped boost the energy equity index . U.S. crude settled up 4.05% at $71.34 per barrel and Brent ended at $75.30, up 3.86%. The biggest boost from a single stock for all three major U.S. indexes was from technology heavyweight Apple Inc which soared after its quarterly report impressed investors.
Investors also paused their exit from
U.S. banks pushing the KBW regional bank index up 4.4%. However the regional index was still down roughly for the week on sharp declines in the previous four sessions after the weekend collapse of First Republic Bank. The dollar index fell 0.099%, with the euro up 0.09% to $1.1021. The Japanese yen weakened 0.36% versus the greenback at 134.80 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.2638, up 0.52% on the day.
Benchmark 10-year notes were up 8.7 basis points to 3.439%, from 3.352% late on Thursday. The 30-year bond was last up 3.4 basis points to yield 3.7562%. The 2-year note was last up 19.1 basis points to yield 3.9181%.
After getting close to a record high in the previous
session, gold beat a fast retreat after the payrolls data
tempered expectations for Fed rate cuts.
Spot gold dropped 1.6% to $2,017.55 an ounce.
U.S. gold futures fell 1.76% to $2,017.40 an ounce.
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World FX rates YTD Asian stock markets ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Additional reporting by Ankur Banarjee in Singapore. Editing
by Jacqueline Wong, Robert Birsel, Keith Weir, Alexander Smith,
David Gregorio and Diane Craft)
