The US stock market rose to records Friday following the latest sign that the nation's job market is doing better than economists expected.
- The Dow rose 12.19 points, or less than 0.1%, to 49,609.16, closing the week up 0.2%.
- The S&P 500 rose 61.82 points, or 0.8%, to 7,398.93, 2.3% higher for the week.
- The Nasdaq rose 440.88 points, or 1.7%, to 26,247.08, climbing 4.5% for the week.
While hiring slowed from March's level, it was still nearly double what economists expected. The report helped the S&P 500 close out a sixth straight winning week, its longest such streak since 2024.
The stock market has been soaring since late March, the AP reports, in part on hopes that the Iran war will not mean a worst-case scenario for the global economy and that the Strait of Hormuz will reopen to allow oil tankers to deliver crude from the Persian Gulf again. It's still to be determined if those hopes are warranted. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.2% to settle at $101.29 following the latest volleys of fire. That's below its wartime heights above $119 but still much more expensive than its roughly $70 prewar level from late February. One big factor helping to support the stock market is the strong profits that companies have been reporting for the start of 2026.
Monster Beverage jumped 13.6% after the energy drink maker joined the parade of companies topping analysts' expectations for profit and revenue for the latest quarter. It benefited from strong growth outside the US. Akamai Technologies leaped even more, 26.6%, after its results squeaked past expectations. It announced a $1.8 billion deal to provide cloud infrastructure services to an unnamed client over seven years. The cybersecurity and cloud computing company is benefiting from the surge in investment in artificial intelligence technology.
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