*
Regional banks rebound after bruising selloff
*
U.S. employers add 253,000 jobs in April
*
Indexes up: Dow 1.6%, S&P 500 1.8%, Nasdaq 2.2%
(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments;
new byline and adds NEW YORK dateline)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK May 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were up sharply
Friday afternoon, with shares of Apple Inc rallying after upbeat
results, while U.S. jobs data pointed to a resilient labor
market.
Apple's quarterly results cheered investors worried
about a potential recession and the iPhone maker's stock surged
nearly 5%. It hit a nine-month high and was on track for its
biggest daily gain since November.
Apple's stock was the biggest positive influence on all
three major U.S. stock indexes.
The U.S. Labor Department report showed job growth
accelerated in April and wage gains increased solidly,
suggesting the labor market has stayed strong despite recent
interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
With the jobs report, "it's about the state of the U.S.
economy, and what we saw today suggests it's in a better
position than previously expected," said Kristina Hooper, chief
global market Strategist at Invesco in New York.
Regional bank shares also rebounded after recent weakness
tied to the collapse of First Republic Bank. PacWest Bancorp rallied along with Western Alliance Bancorp. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 512.48 points,
or 1.55%, to 33,640.22, the S&P 500 gained 74.23 points,
or 1.83%, to 4,135.45 and the Nasdaq Composite added
264.97 points, or 2.21%, to 12,231.37.
On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank raised its interest rate
by 25 basis points as expected, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell
noted it was too early to say with certainty that the rate-hike
cycle was over as inflation remains the chief concern.
Apple drove gains in other tech shares. The S&P 500
technology index was up 2.8%, but all 11 major S&P
sectors were higher on the day.
The KBW regional index was up 3.5%, while the S&P 500
Banks index was up 3.4%.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
5.05-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.69-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 75 new highs and 90 new lows.
(Additional reporting by Ankika Biswas and Sruthi Shankar in
Bengaluru and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Subhranshu
Sahu, Shounak Dasgupta and David Gregorio)
