Tech takes Wall Street higher

Tech stocks drove Wall Street higher Friday as investors welcomed a tepid jobs report that cooled inflation fears. The data indicated the labor market was improving, but the report was not robust enough to point to rising inflation that could prompt the Fed to hike interest rates.

Portfolio manager Eric Clark of Rational Dynamic Brands Funds says the payrolls increase of 559,000 in May was just right for investors.

“This is more of the potential Goldilocks scenario where interest rates don't have to rise and the Fed doesn't have to act too quickly and you know tech stocks have been kind of, you know, little unloved lately, with growth underperforming values. So I think this is a little bit of a sigh of relief rally.”

The Dow added a half percent. The S&P 500 rose nearly nine-tenth of a percent, finishing a hair shy of a new closing record high, while the Nasdaq jumped 1-and-a-half percent. All three indexes made gains on the week.

Shares of high-flying AMC Entertainment ended a wild week of trading with more gyrations, dropping almost 7%. Still, they managed to nearly double over just the past five days.

Shares of billionaire Williams Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings dropped 12%. It’s in talks to buy 10% of the world’s biggest label, Universal Music Group, home to artists like Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga.

Advertisement