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 Employers added 214,000 jobs in October and unemployment fell to a
six-year low of 5.8 percent, underscoring the U.S. economy's
resilience while the global economy faces slowing demand.
Yields on U.S. Treasuries came off one-month peaks posted shortly
before the release of the Labor Department report. The October job
gain was below the 231,000 increase forecast by economists polled by
Reuters.
Wall Street ended little changed on Friday, though the Dow and the
S&P 500 eked out record closing highs and the three major indexes
all managed to post gains for the week.
MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS>, a gauge of stock
performance in 45 countries, see-sawed around break-even, suggesting
equities were poised for further gains.
"It's hard to not bet on the economy, with the fundamentals looking
like a full house: earnings are rock solid, we're growing at a nice
pace and confidence is up," said David Kelly, chief global
strategist for JPMorgan Funds in New York.
"The number was slightly weaker than expected, but until we see real
weakness or higher interest rates, we'll continue to be overweight
on equities," he said.
Employment gains have now topped the 200,000 mark for nine straight
months, the longest stretch since 1994.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> closed up 19.46 points, or
0.11 percent, to 17,573.93. The S&P 500 <.SPX> rose 0.7 points, or
0.03 percent, to 2,031.91 while the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> fell
5.94 points, or 0.13 percent, to 4,632.53.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.7
percent and the Nasdaq added 0.04 percent.
In Europe, shares lost ground as pessimism over economic growth and
loan demand in the region took a toll on bank stocks, while the U.S.
jobs data did little to buoy investor sentiment.
European equities had staged a short-lived rally on Thursday after
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi reiterated plans to revive
the struggling euro zone by pumping more money into the economy.
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The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> fell 0.5 percent to
close at 1,344.74.
The euro slipped briefly to a 26-month low at $1.2357 before
rebounding for a 0.65 percent gain on the day at $1.2453.
Against the yen, the dollar fell 0.55 percent, to 114.57 yen,
pulling back from Thursday's seven-year peak of 115.49 yen,
according to Thomson Reuters data.
The U.S. dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket
of currencies, reached a high of 88.19, its highest level since June
2010 <.DXY>, before slipping back to 87.570, a loss of 0.5 percent
on the day.
Brent crude oil steadied above $83 a barrel, consolidating after
several months of sharp falls, as the U.S. jobs data pointed to
stronger economic growth and the dollar remained near four-year
highs.
Brent <LCOc1> settled up 53 cents at $83.39 a barrel. U.S. crude
<CLc1> settled up 74 cents at $78.65 a barrel.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 20/32 in price to yield
2.3047 percent, after hitting a one-month high of 2.407 percent
before the jobs data.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica
in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler, Peter Galloway and Leslie
Adler)
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