Stan Choe
The US stock market rose to records following the latest sign that the nation’s job market is doing better than economists expected.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.8 per cent to an all-time high after a report said US employers added 115,000 more jobs than they cut last month, even though the war with Iran is raising fuel costs and uncertainty for everyone. The Dow Jones edged up by 12 points, or less than 0.1 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1.7 per cent to its own record.
The Australian sharemarket is set to slide, with futures on Saturday pointing to a loss of 42 points, or 0.5 per cent, at the open. The Australian dollar was trading at US72.50¢ at 5.17am AEST.
While hiring slowed from March’s level, it was still nearly double what economists expected. And it helped the S&P 500 close out a sixth straight winning week, its longest such streak since 2024. The US stock market has been blasting higher since late March, in part on hopes that the war will not mean a worst-case scenario for the global economy and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to allow oil tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again.
It’s still to be determined if those hopes are warranted or just wishful. US forces fired on and disabled two Iranian oil tankers on Friday after exchanging fire with Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz. It’s the latest flare-up in fighting to raise doubts about the tenuous month-old ceasefire that the United States has insisted is still in effect.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.2 per cent to settle at $US101.29 following the latest volleys of fire. That’s below its heights above $US119 during the war, but it’s still much more expensive than its roughly $US70 level from late February before the fighting began.
One big factor helping to support the US stock market despite the war’s uncertainties is the strong profits that companies have been reporting for the start of 2026.
Monster Beverage jumped 13.6 per cent after the energy drink maker joined the parade of companies topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue for the latest quarter. It benefited from strong growth outside the United States, and total net sales from there made up about 45 per cent of its total, the highest percentage ever for the company.
Akamai Technologies leaped even more, 26.6 per cent, after its results squeaked past expectations. It announced a $US1.8 billion deal to provide cloud infrastructure services to an unnamed client over seven years. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company is benefiting from the surge in investment in artificial-intelligence technology.
Voracious demand for AI helped CoreWeave report revenue for the latest quarter that was more than double what it was a year earlier, but its net loss was worse than analysts expected. It also gave a forecasted range for revenue in the current quarter whose midpoint fell below analysts’ expectations. The stock of the company, which offers AI computing power to customers over the cloud, fell 11.4 per cent.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 61.82 points to 7,398.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 12.19 to 49,609.16, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 440.88 to 26,247.08.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Germany’s DAX lost 1.3 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.9 per cent for two of the bigger losses.
South Korea’s Kospi was an exception, and it inched up 0.1 per cent to another all-time high.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased and remained lower after a preliminary report suggested sentiment among US consumers is stuck near its lowest level since 2022. Consumers told the survey from the University of Michigan they’re concerned about both high gasoline prices and tariffs, though their expectations for inflation in the coming year softened by a bit.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.36 per cent from 4.41 per cent late Thursday and from 4.45 per cent early this week.
Lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and other kinds of loans going to US households and businesses, which in turn can give the economy a boost. Lower yields also tend to push upward on prices for stocks and other kinds of investments.
The 10-year Treasury yield, though, remains well above its 3.97 per cent level from just before the war.
