US stocks rise, S&P 500 ends at 6,000 pts

US stocks closed higher on Friday, as concerns over a slowdown in the labor market eased following the release of the monthly jobs report. Markets also looked ahead to a new round of trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing set to begin early next week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1%, or 443 points, to settle at 42,762 points.

The S&P 500 index rose 1%, or 61 points, to 6,000 points.

Similarly, Nasdaq Composite gained 1.20%, or 231 points, to close at 19,529 points.

As for European markets, the STOXX Europe 600 inched up 0.32% to 553 points.

The German DAX index was down 0.10% to 24,304 points. The British FTSE index rose 0.31% to 8,837 points. The French CAC 40 index added 0.19% to 7,804 points.

The Nikkei index advanced 0.50% to 37,741 points, and the broader Topix index gained 0.47% to 2,769 points.

Brent crude futures for August delivery rose by 1.73%, or $1.13, to settle at $66.47 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for July delivery climbed 1.91%, or $1.21, to close at $64.58 per barrel. Both contracts recorded weekly gains of 5.6% and 6.2%, respectively.

As for gold, August futures fell 0.84%, or $28.5, to $3,346.60 per ounce, but with a weekly gain of 0.94%.

Official data released today showed that the US economy added more jobs than expected in May, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.2%. This eased expectations for further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and boosted investor confidence in the labor market’s performance.