US stocks hit new records after ‘Goldilocks’ jobs data

US stocks hit new records after ‘Goldilocks’ jobs data

Wall Street stocks hit an all-time high on Friday after the US jobs numbers for June came in better than expected, signalling that the world's largest economy was emerging from the pandemic at a robust pace.

The US labour market added 850,000 positions last month, beating economists' expectations for 720,000 new jobs and substantially above the 583,000 revised figure for May.

Wall Street's broad S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite built on records hit earlier this week, with both benchmarks up 0.6 per cent in afternoon trading in New York.

The employment reading was not, however, too strong to suggest the US Federal Reserve would be tempted to rein in the pandemic-era stimulus that has underpinned asset prices throughout the health crisis.

"The US jobs figures couldn't have delivered better news for Wall Street," said Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell, which said this was a "Goldilocks" moment for markets "” "not too hot, not too cold".

"Enough new jobs to confirm the economy is on a roll, [but] enough jobless to give the Fed's current strategy a warm hug," added Hewson. Jay Powell, Fed chair, has vowed to keep the bank's monetary policy supportive until the labour market has recovered from the pandemic.

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