NEW YORK -- Stock indexes chugged to record highs on Friday, led by technology companies and dividend payers.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 9.01 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,439.07. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 62.11, or 0.3 percent, to 21,206.29, and the Nasdaq composite rose 58.97, or 0.9 percent, to 6,305.80. All three indexes added to records set Thursday.
Bond yields fell immediately after the government said employers added 138,000 jobs last month, which was short of economists' expectations and a slowdown from April's hiring. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 2.15 percent from 2.21 percent late Thursday and hit its lowest level since mid-November.
The government's jobs report also said hiring was weaker in March and April than earlier reported. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent last month, its lowest level since 2001.
Many economists say they don't expect the latest jobs report to dissuade the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates again at its next policy meeting in two weeks. The job market and inflation remain strong enough, they say. The central bank has been trying to pull rates gradually off their record low reached during the recession, and it has raised rates twice since December.
Friday's jobs report slots in with a series of mixed economic reports that show continued modest gains, but no big acceleration. The economy grew at an annual rate of 1.2 percent in the first three months of the year, for example. That's a relatively weak showing but better than first estimated.
"Is the glass half-full or half-empty on the economic statistics?" asked Rich Weiss, senior portfolio manager at American Century Investments. "I don't know, but it's only half."
Weiss said he's been cautious on U.S. stocks given the continued tepid pace of growth, particularly as indexes have climbed to record after record this year.
"If you were a Martian and looked at the economic stats, you would not be pouring money into the equity market, or at least the U.S. equity market," he said.
Friday's drop in interest rates helped stocks in industries that pay big dividends. Real-estate investment trusts rose twice as fast as the overall S&P 500, for example. Dividends look more attractive to income investors when bonds are paying less in interest.
Technology stocks had the day's biggest gains, with those in the S&P 500 jumping 1 percent. It's the latest move higher for the streaking sector, which is already up 21.3 percent for the year. That's by far the biggest gain among the 11 sectors that make up the S&P 500.
Chipmaker Broadcom had the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after reporting stronger quarterly revenue and profit than analysts had forecast. It rose $19.94, or 8.5 percent, to $254.53.
Lululemon gained $5.62, or 11.5 percent, to $54.29 after the athletic apparel company reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Business on 06/03/2017