US equity indexes rose this week as slumping nonfarm payrolls raised bets on policy easing shortly after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell rejected the possibility of interest rate hikes.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to 38,675.68 on Friday from 38,239.66 a week ago. The S&P 500 ended at 5,127.79, climbing from 5,099.66, and the Nasdaq closed at 16,156.33 compared with 15,927.90 a week prior.
* On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee left interest rates unchanged in the 5.25% to 5.5% range for the sixth consecutive meeting.
* "The main flashes from the Fed last night was that while the FOMC made several hawkish tweaks, Powell signaled that rate hikes remained unlikely and the Fed announced a slightly-larger-than-expected slowing of [quantitative tightening]," Jim Reid, the head of global fundamental credit strategy at Deutsche Bank, said in a note Thursday. "It's hard to say it was a dovish meeting but given the recent inflation prints it could have been a lot more hawkish."
* On Friday, a bearish jobs report landed. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 175,000 in April, below expectations for an increase of 240,000, following an upwardly revised 315,000 gain in March and a downwardly revised 236,000 increase in February. The unemployment rate rose to 3.9% from 3.8%. Average hourly earnings grew 0.2% versus 0.3% in March, slowing the year-over-year rate to 3.9% from 4.1%.
* The probability of the Fed leaving interest rate unchanged in September fell to almost 33% from more than 38% the previous day and 43% a week ago, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
* Technology was the strongest gainer on Friday. It was also among the top performers during the week, reflecting the push-and-pull going on in markets regarding the timing of the beginning of the Fed's easing cycle.
* Corporate earnings also helped lift markets this week, including those from heavyweights Amazon.com (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL).